Life After the Fall
by mak5258
Summary: After SR, Clark ends up taking Lois in after a not so pleasant breakup with Richard. And then life goes on.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Superman and I'm not making any money off of this fic. It'd be nice, but I'm not- o well. _

**So- this is my first Superman fic, and I haven't seen the original movies in a long time, so if I screw up the mythology, correct me. This starts towards the end of Superman Returns and goes off from there- it's going to focus more on the people than the action, but there'll still be action (it's Superman, how can there not be?). I'm open to suggestions, too... Enjoy!**

- - - **Chapter One**

The kryptonite was almost glowing. It was all around him. The entire continent that he was raising into orbit was made of it. It hurt, to put it mildly. Clark could feel his blood boiling beneath his skin and his strength ebbing away. For the first time ever, Clark felt the coldness of space. He'd been in space before, but he'd never felt the coldness of it. It surrounded him, driving away what was left of his strength almost as strongly as the kryptonite. And then he just couldn't do it anymore.

He felt himself floating backwards, falling. Unable to keep going up, to keep pushing the crushing landmass away from the planet he'd come to love.

Then there was heat. He was reentering the atmosphere. Clark could see the orange and red light around him and feel the heat; another new experience. He closed his eyes; it was just too hard to keep them open. He was still falling. The rush of air as he fell was usually exhilarating, but this time he knew he wouldn't be able to pull out of the dive and swoop back into the heavens; this time he was really falling and was going to crash.

He heard the ground rushing towards him before he felt it.

- - -

Clark's fingers were tingling. So were his toes. There was a strange buzzing in his ears. The buzzing turned into a voice. A familiar voice, but he couldn't pick out the words. The voice, a female voice, washed over him; calming his nerves. And then it was clear; Lois was here, wherever here was, and she was talking to him.

"I don't know if you can hear me," she said softly. "They say … sometimes people can hear you… I just wanted to tell you," she paused for what seemed like forever. Then her voice was closer, softer. "I thought you should know that Jason… you have to come back to us, Superman. Jason is your son. If anything, you need to come back for him."

The words hit him like he'd hit the Earth only a few days ago.

_I have a son. Jason is my son. _

And Lois was kissing him. And then she wasn't. He was alone in his bed again. The buzzing in his ears turned into footsteps getting closer. Jason kissed his forehead. Heat spread from that little kiss to every place in his body. It drove away the tingling in his fingers and toes, and spread through his insides like wildfire.

The door closed. He was alone within himself again.

The warmth had worked its way through him and he could feel himself coming around, but he was too tired to open his eyes. He fell asleep.

Clark woke when he heard somebody enter the room. He kept his eyes closed and played like he was still in his coma. The nurse, he assumed, checked the monitors and felt for his pulse. She stood for a moment and he could hear her breathing, but then she was gone and he was alone again.

He listened carefully; the room was empty. He opened his eyes and scanned the nearby halls. The only person within human earshot was the policeman standing dutifully outside his door. Smiling to himself, Clark got out of bed, pulling the various electrodes off of him and letting them fall onto the bed. The monitors flat-lined and Clark remembered when the monitors attached to his father had made that noise so many years ago; he stopped for a minute and let the memory wash over him. It was a sad one, but it was one worth remembering. He'd always remember his father.

He found his suit on the chair across the room. There was a large hole where Lex had stabbed him. Clark paused a moment to look at the hole, running a hand over the spot. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he put the suit on in a whirlwind of blue and red.

_I have to see my son._ The reminder of his own father had pushed that into the foreground of his mind.

Clark went to the window and opened it. The breeze was a rush in itself even though his feet hadn't even left the ground yet. He smiled, climbing up into the window and drifting out over the street.

Nobody noticed the blue figure passing overhead. There was a crowd below the main door, but Superman's window was on the side of the building. Clark flew off into the night, heading for Lois and Richard's house, where he'd find his son.

After he'd said what he'd had to say, Clark floated out the window again, leaving the window open because it was a warm night, and he secretly hoped the breeze would give his son dreams of flight.

"Good night!" Jason's voice came across the yard. Clark turned in the air, giving his son a sad smile before his eyes fell on Lois standing in the yard below.

"I-" Lois started, but her voice caught in her throat. "I thought you were going to die," she finished, barely above a whisper. Of course, Clark heard her.

There was so much emotion packed into those words. More emotion than he'd thought he'd ever hear coming from her again. Without really thinking, he flew down and took her in his arms, holding her close.

"I'm okay," he whispered in his ear. She pulled him closer and he could feel her tears falling onto his shoulder.

"Jason, what are you doing up? Get back in bed," Richard's tired voice came from inside, but Lois didn't hear him.

"M'kay," Jason said, and Clark heard the click of the window closing again. The voices were more muffled now, but Clark heard Richard tucking Jason in for the night.

"Take me above the clouds again, Superman," Lois whispered, pulling away to look into his face. He ran an inventory of his muscles, determining whether it'd be safe to take her flying after only just waking. She misread his uncertainty in himself as a reluctance to take her. "Please, I just need…"

But they lifted off the ground before she could finish, and she grabbed him tighter. She was holding him around the waist this time, pulling him intimately close instead of just holding onto his arms like she had the last time he'd taken her up. She sighed with relief as they floated over the bay, and Clark could feel her relaxing in his arms.

"I was so worried," she whispered.

"I'm okay," he assured her again, and she smiled.

"Is that all you can say?"

"I'm just as surprised as you are that I'm here right now," he said honestly. She wasn't so happy to hear that.

"I don't know what I would've done if… you hadn't… With Jason-" her voice caught again and Clark held her close, still looking into her eyes.

"I'll be there for both of you from now on, I promise," he whispered. And he meant it. "I'll find a way."

Lois sighed, breaking eye contact to lay her head against his chest. She could feel the famous "S" emblem against her cheek and smiled, just glad that he was there with her.

Below them, Richard watched from the window of the boy he thought was his son's bedroom. Emotions danced painfully across his face. _She said she didn't love him. That she never had,_ he reminded himself, but she'd obviously lied. Lois was clinging to him like a child clings to its mother when it's frightened. They disappeared into the clouds over the bay and he pulled Jason's curtains closed

Jason was already asleep behind him. The little boy's innocence calmed Richard's nerves, at least long enough for him to leave the room. Richard went out on the porch, intending to confront the pair of them when they came back, but he lost confidence after only a few minutes. _How can I compete with Superman?_ He sighed, running a hand over his tired face.

Richard went to bed and tried not to think about what the woman who was supposed to be next to him was doing.

Clark landed twenty minutes later. As usual, he landed and then set Lois down gently afterwards, making her smile when she noticed. "Always a gentleman," she commented. He smiled back, recapturing her lips in a brief goodbye; they'd had enough passionate kisses over the Atlantic that they could settle for a chaste goodbye, a sad reminder that they'd never really be together again. She sighed into his chest, her hands roaming across his back and avoiding the area where he'd been stabbed. "What happens now?" She asked.

"Now, you go back into your house and say goodnight to our son, and then lie down and sleep next to your fiancé," he said a little sadly.

"And you fade into the night sky?" She asked, equally as sadly but with a little smile.

"Into the night sky," he said, kissing her gently again. She stood back, her arms slipping from around his waist to his forearms, not wanting to let go.

"Goodnight, Lois," he said softly.

"I'll see you around?"

"I'm always around."

And he was gone.

Lois watched him rise into the clear sky and disappear behind the buildings of Metropolis. She pulled her robe closer around her, missing his heat when he was gone. With a sigh, she went back into the house and locked the doors, stopping at her son's door to check on him before making her way to her own bed.

Richard heard her come in, but kept his eyes closed. He had been counting the seconds until she returned; she had been gone much too long for his taste. He heard her toss her robe over the nearby chair and felt the mattress shift to accommodate her weight. The blankets shifted as she got comfortable; she didn't snuggle up to him like she normally did, but lay flat on her back. Her breathing suggested that she was crying, but he didn't have the strength to roll over and… what? Comfort her? No, he couldn't comfort her; she was pining for another man's arms, to be in another man's bed.

A super-man's bed.


	2. Chapter 2

- - - **Chapter Two**

Clark flew over Metropolis, just high enough so that nobody would see him. He dwelled on the flight he had just taken, the woman he had had in his arms. Lois had held onto him like she never wanted to let go, and kissed him back with equal passion even though she was engaged to another man. He'd promised her he'd be there for her, and he planned on it. The only thing he wasn't looking forward to was going to work the day after next and seeing her with Richard. _Will she still be with Richard Monday morning?_

He pushed the selfish thoughts from his mind and flew to the hospital. He considered going back inside and letting the doctors officially release him, but he'd always been a little nervous about doctors; ever since he'd seen the movie E.T., actually. He decided not to fly back through that window, but he heard the worried voices of the doctors who had taken care of him panicking to find him gone.

Clark examined the crowd for a moment and spotted his mother near the door. She had a different look on her than any of the other well-wishers did. She looked worried, pale; Clark regretted for a moment that she couldn't tell anybody who she was or even visit her son when he was in the hospital. Everybody in the crowd looked tired, and it was a big crowd. A large portion of them held candles and were staring at the windows above them, probably wondering which pane of glass separated them from him.

Clark made a quick decision and flew down out of the clouds, coming into view of the crowd from around the side of the hospital. There were gasps and then a cheer rose from the collective. He focused on his mother, she was sobbing and he wished he could go to her, but he couldn't. He stopped near the edge of the crowd, raising his voice so that it would carry down to them all. "Thank you," he said simply, before stretching out his arms and soaring over them. He picked up speed just after clearing the crowd, there was a faint pop of a sonic boom and he disappeared into the night sky.

He circled back a moment later, setting down in a nearby alley and changing into what was left of his Clark Kent clothes- wrinkled gray slacks, dress shoes that had lost their shine, and a white dress shirt that had a spot of his own blood on the sleeve and was more wrinkled than his pants. It was a miracle his glasses hadn't broken. He checked himself again, hiding the Superman suit under a dumpster so that he could roll up the sleeves and hide the blood.

The crowd was beginning to thin. People at the edges were making their way to taxis and the bus that was lucky enough to have been driving past when Superman flew overhead. Everybody was talking about him, relieved and amazed. His mother just stood silently where she had been when he'd flown over, still staring at the spot he'd disappeared into, and still crying silently. People were hugging around her, but she was just breathing, not bothering to wipe her tears.

Clark made his way through the crowd against the flow with a grace many men his size could only dream of. He approached her from behind, setting a careful hand on her shoulder and holding her steady when she spun around, her eyes wide with fright.

"Clark?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"It's me," he said, trying to sound soothing.

"Are you okay? Why didn't you just let the doctors release you properly?" She asked, letting him pull her into a hug.

"I'm okay," he said, smiling and holding her tightly against his chest. "But you know how I feel about doctors and needles, I didn't want to stay and have them do all sorts of… tests before they let me go."

"I understand," and she was the only one who really would. Growing up, his parents had been just as worried as he was about anybody, especially scientists or doctors, knowing anything about him. Even though people knew he was from a different planet and nobody at Metropolis General would dream of doing tests on him, the threat was always there.

"It looks like the crowd is heading home," Clark said after a moment of silence, blending with what was left of the crowd. Clark pulled away from his mother, guiding her by her hand to the dark alley where he'd left the suit. She was silent as he became a red and blue blur while he changed into the costume again.

"Take me up slowly," Martha cautioned as she stepped onto her son's toes and gripped his forearms tightly for the first time in more than a decade, "my heart isn't as young as it used to be."

Clark smiled a little sadly and held onto her tightly, lifting off just as gently as she'd asked for. He heard her heartbeat speed up when she looked down and discovered that they'd already cleared the buildings.

At the farmhouse, Martha set about her kitchen. While Clark was in his natural habitat in the skies, she was in her natural habitat in this kitchen.

"What happened?" She asked, pulling out pots and pans and generally making a lot of familiar kitchen noises while she searched for the means to make her son the biggest breakfast he'd had in years.

"Luthor happened," Clark said. His mother was silent, arms crossed in front of her, even the cooking forgotten while she waited for the rest of the answer. "He had a shard of kryptonite, he stabbed me… Lois pulled it out in the plane, but there were a few shards left inside. I put as much rock between me and that continent as I could but… it was made of kryptonite and the normal rock fell away and the kryptonite in the wound and the kryptonite I was lifting took it all out of me."

"Took it out of you," his mother mumbled. She walked over and unbuttoned his shirt without hesitation, pulling it back so she could look at the huge greenish bruise and the faint red line where the shard had punctured his 'invulnerable' skin. He flinched away when she fingered it gently.

"It's a little tender…"

"And yet you're out here flying around," she shook her head and then glared at him. "You should still be in that hospital- they're trained to help… What the hell were you thinking?! You could've died, Clark!" She frowned again. Fresh tears came to her eyes but didn't fall, "I couldn't even get in to see you! What were you thinking? What would I have done if you'd died! I can't very well go to the morgue and request Superman's body so I can bury it next to his father! They'd think I was crazy just because _you_ were too caught up in your own little mystery to tell that Lois Lane that you didn't just swoop in yesterday! We had to deal with a three year old with high fevers and an aptitude for pulling cabinet doors off when he got too excited and a thirteen year old who liked jumping off the silos to see if he would bounce…!"

"But I did bounce…" Clark said, trying to lighten her mood.

"Only because you had springy knees," she said without thinking and smiled. "Darn you," she said when she realized that her anger was gone. Her voice was soft again, "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little pale… and that bruise…"

"When am I not pale, Mom?" He smiled and she shrugged. "It'll heal."

"But you are _not_ going out and trying to do anything heroic tonight! You are sitting down at that table and staying still while I make you something to eat and then you're going to _sleep_," she told him, poking him in the chest just hard enough so that it didn't hurt her finger, but she emphasized her point.

"I'm _fine_ …"

"No way, mister," she said holding her finger out threateningly again. "I don't care if you _are _Superman, you said you were fine after you woke up after you got home too and then you ate breakfast and slept for another fourteen hours!"

Clark sighed, he wouldn't win this one. "Fine," he said, turning and sitting down at the table behind him, setting his glasses on the counter in front of him and scrubbing a weary hand over his eyes before re-buttoning his shirt.

"That's what I thought," Martha said. After another few minutes she asked, "Have you been eating right in that big city of yours?" She turned the burner down under the bacon before going over to the griddle to flip the pancakes.

"Probably not," Clark admitted, trying to think of the last thing he'd eaten and not coming up with anything.

"Didn't think so," his mother responded, pouring out a few more pancakes and putting the first stack she'd made on a plate in front of Clark.

"Mom, you should sleep," Clark said after a few hours. She'd made him the biggest breakfast he could ever remember eating and eaten her own portion of the food. They were on their fourth pot of coffee and she looked exhausted. The sun was just beginning to show itself on the horizon. "I just woke up from a lot of sleeping, but you've been standing out there… you should rest, Mom."

Her face had pinched when he mentioned his 'sleep,' but she didn't mention it. She just nodded and headed up to her room. "Oh, Clark," she started, remembering something. "Ben Hubbard will be by at about eight with some zucchini from his garden that I'm supposed to be making zucchini bread out of for him. If you could just take the bin and put it somewhere in the kitchen where I'll see, that'd be great."

"Of course, Mom," he said, running water in the sink to start the dishes.

"You should rest too, you know," she said. "You've been through just as much as I have in these past few days."

"I'm okay, Mom," he smiled at her and she went up to bed.

He couldn't sit still. After he'd done the dishes he'd tried to be the good little farm boy everybody knew and take a nap on the couch, but he'd been too awake. He watched the sun rise from his usual spot by the gate and then turned to look at the house and barn. They were his sanctuary more than the Fortress of Solitude had ever been. This was where he had grown up, and this was where his heart always came back to.

He went to the barn, moving things around and fixing what he saw was broken. He fed the horses, both of them had been barely mature when he left home the first time, and they didn't look much different. It was surprising what changed and what didn't.

"Martha?" He heard a somewhat familiar voice call from the driveway. Ben Hubbard had arrived with his vegetables and was getting out of his truck. Clark walked out of the barn, hoping to intercept the older man before he woke his mother.

"Hey, Mr. Hubbard!" He said with the goofy smile that employees of the _Daily Planet_ associated with bumbling Clark Kent, but that the people of Smallville associated with the happy-go-lucky farm boy gone city slicker who'd made it in Metropolis.

"Clark? Is that you?" Ben asked, forgetting about the zucchinis long enough to shake Clark's hand.

"How've you been, Ben?" Clark asked, dropping the dorky smile for a mask of polite inquiry.

"Good, um, oh! I've got the zucchinis for your mother's bread," he said with a smile.

"Thanks, Ben," Clark said, smiling again and taking the over-full box of zucchini from the aging farmer as though it weighed no more than a feather. Ben's eyebrows went up at his ease, but he didn't say anything. "Do you want me to have Mom give you a call when she wakes up?"

"Sure, um, she's not already up?" It was unusual for Martha to sleep later than six or seven even on weekends.

"No," Clark said, shaking his head. "I got in late last night and she wanted to talk, so she'll be sleeping in this morning… hopefully."

"Hopefully," Ben repeated with a knowing smile; Martha wasn't one to rest when she could help it, and she'd been truly restless of late. "It'd be great if you could have her give me a call when she wakes… See you around, Clark."

"See you around, Ben."

"What's between you and Ben Hubbard?" Clark asked early in the afternoon while he was chopping the zucchini for his mother.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Clark shrugged. "He seems to be around a lot and this morning he seemed really… comfortable to be here…?"

"He's a friend, Clark," his mother assured him. "He's a couple years older than me, but he's the nearest person within my age group that's not in a nursing home. It's nice to have somebody around to talk to who can remember the same things I can," she smiled at him. Clark gave her a suspicious look but dropped it, turning back to the cutting board in time to see himself run out of zucchini and bring the blade down on his fingers instead. Of course, the blade made a horrible noise and bent at the handle.

"Sorry," he said, holding up the knife for a closer look. Martha was just staring at him, eyes full of worry. He waved his hand at her, showing five whole and completely unaffected fingers. His mother just shook her head and went back to work on preparing the bread while Clark used his heat vision to soften the blade and bend it back into position.

"Clark, I do have one question for you," Martha said after taking a second loaf out of the oven.

"Yeah?"

"I saw Lois Lane go in to see you…" she glanced at him, looking for a reaction but he just nodded to show that he was listening and waiting for whatever came next. "She had a boy with her."

"That's Jason, her son. He's five," Clark said, his voice getting quieter. _Do I tell her now or do I wait and resolve things with Lois first?_

"Are you his father?" She asked. Her voice wasn't accusing or any of a number of things he might've expected. He paused a moment before answering.

"Yes," he couldn't look at her straight.

"You left while she was pregnant with your child," now the tone held some accusation.

"I didn't know she was pregnant," he said, forcing himself to look at her so that she would know he was telling the truth. "If I'd know that I'd never have left."

Martha regarded him for a moment. She knew he was telling the truth, but it was a lot to take in. "I expect to meet my grandson sometime."

"Mom, Lois doesn't know that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person…"

"She deserves to know, Clark; you have to tell her."

"I plan to, but it'll take time," he sighed, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "And she's with Richard now, and Richard thinks that Jason is his son…"

"Clark…" now there was pity in her voice.

"I'll think of a way to tell her who I am, then I'll ask her if I can bring Jason for a visit, or if I can bring you to Jason, but… She has a stable life with Richard, something I can never give her being who I am," he sighed heavily. "She deserves a stable life, and so does Jason… I'll do what I can."

"You always do," Martha commented before turning back to the next loaf of bread and leaving her son to his thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

- - - **Chapter Three**

Clark Kent sat at his desk, watching the tiny digital clock in the bottom corner of his computer screen tick away the minutes. It was now 8:30pm, and he, Lois Lane, and her, _their_, son Jason were the only ones left in the Daily Planet newsroom. In fact, they had been the only ones left in the newsroom for going on three hours; it was Friday night and most people had slipped out early to get a head start on their weekends.

Lois typed furiously, but Clark, being who he was, knew she wasn't working on anything important. She was stalling, pretending to work and hoping that he'd leave soon so that she could pick Jason up from the chair he'd been sleeping in for the better part of the hour, and bring him into the back room where there was a lumpy cot that they'd been sharing for almost three weeks.

Clark sat quietly, wanting to reach out to her but not sure how she'd respond.

The relationship between Lois and Richard hadn't been the same since the incident with Lex Luthor on the _Gertrude_ and the following events. Richard had realized that Lois's heart still belonged to Superman. Not long after the night Clark had woken from his coma, Richard had forced Lois to talk to him about Jason's true parentage. Contrary to her belief that Richard would be able to see past that and continue to raise Jason as his own, he had blown up on her and their conversation had turned into an all-out shouting match. It had woken Jason and things had only gotten worse. They fought for less than a week before Richard told Lois that she should leave and take her "bastard alien son" with her. Jason had been confused; why would Daddy want him and his Mommy to leave?

Lois had smoothed things over as best as she could, moving the pair of them into a cheap, but not too cheap, hotel while she searched for a new apartment. After a month without luck, the manager of the hotel had begun dropping hints that he wasn't a landlord and that she should clear out. So, Lois and Jason Lane were living at the Daily Planet. Lois kept their things packed away in discreet suitcases under the cot in the storage room during the day, only taking them out after everybody else had gone home. The pair of them would rise early and go to a local gym where they'd shower and change clothes; Lois would put a load of laundry in at the laundromat next-door before taking Jason to school. She'd get the laundry and pack it back in their suitcases by the time her coworkers began filtering in for another day. She would sneak out of the storage room and get a cheap coffee before coming back up the elevator for her official arrival. At least it wasn't so bad going to work now that Richard had transferred to a California paper.

It had been working, so far as she was aware. Of course, she wasn't aware that Superman was watching her and getting more and more worried about her. Clark had visited her a few times after Richard had made her leave. He stopped by the hotel room and checked on them, and she'd noticed him flying above her on her way to and from the _Planet_. She'd seen only worry in his eyes when they'd met, but she was too proud to ask for help. Clark couldn't think of a way to help her as Superman without revealing his second identity to her, and he wasn't ready for that yet.

Clark looked through his monitor again, watching Lois's fingers tap the keys and mimicking her strokes. She was writing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." again and again and again. She had thirty-four pages of it and similar phrases in all manner of fonts and sizes. It was time to put a stop to it.

Sighing loudly, Clark leaned back and stretched, stifling an exaggerated yawn. He leaned in and went through the motions of closing his computer down for the night and packing his slightly weathered briefcase.

"Heading home?" Lois asked quietly. Clark didn't fail to notice the hopefulness in her voice, nor the barely masked exhaustion.

"Yeah," he paused. "What about you?"

"Not quite yet, I've got a few pages to go on this, and Jason looks comfortable enough for the moment…" she trailed off, looking at her son. Jason had always been able to sleep just about anywhere, lucky for him. He didn't look comfortable at all, however, curled up in a tight ball on the swivel seat, his cheek resting on the armrest. Clark could see the muscles cramping with his x-ray vision, solidifying his decision to bring the pair of them home with him, secrets be damned.

"What're you working on?" He asked, moving around to see. Lois clicked a few things quickly to bring up an actual article.

"It's the follow-up Perry asked me to do on Lex Luthor's latest life sentence," she said, pointing out the title on her screen. "I've almost finished."

"D'you think it'll make the front page?" He asked in his usual soft tone, not stuttering this time, but still sounding a bit nervous.

"Hopefully," she smiled, _I need the money that comes with a front page article right now,_ she thought. Richard had gotten everything: they'd lived in his house, he'd paid for all the furniture, and his salary had paid the rent; now Lois was stuck with what he'd "generously" let her take from their joint savings account, the clothes that belonged to her and Jason, and her car. She'd secretly been hoping Superman would see fit to swoop in and take her away to wherever it was he lived, but, of course, her pride got in the way of voicing that hope.

Behind her, Clark scanned the article and decided it was definitely worth the front page, though Perry might not agree, Richard was his nephew, after all. "H-have you found an apartment yet?" He asked, wondering belatedly if Clark had any right to ask her that. Lois's heart sped up briefly; she was uncomfortable with the subject.

"Not just yet," at least she didn't lie to him, he could see the suitcases plain as day through the wall and the blankets hiding them.

"Where've you been staying then?" He asked, his face written with concern.

"Well, we had a hotel for a couple of weeks, but…" she shrugged. "Nothings open right now, and hotels aren't apartments…"

"Lois, do you need a place to stay?" He asked, letting his voice come dangerously close to the timbre it took on when he was Superman. She seemed startled at the change in his voice, shifting in her chair and glancing at Jason, who was stirring.

"I, um," she mumbled.

"I have a guest bedroom," he offered, "with a bed that's, um, big enough for both of you, or-or I could sleep on the couch and one of you could use my bed…" he finished, going back to his usual tone and stutter.

"Clark, you don't have to… I don't want to be a bother…"

"Don't worry, you won't be," he assured her. Jason was truly stirring now, his muscles finally cramping enough to bring him around with their complaints. "You can stay for as long as you need to."

"Are you sure, I mean… Clark…"

"You're my friend, Lois, and, well, you, um, deserve better than the cot in the storage room," he said the last part softly, knowing she'd hear anyway. She was looking at him with a slightly embarrassed, mostly thankful look.

"Thank you, Clark," she smiled at him, something he hadn't seen her do since before she and Richard had broken up.

- - -

"How can you afford this?" Lois blurted out when they entered his apartment. She had driven, Clark didn't exactly have use for a car when he could fly; he'd claimed he preferred the bus anyway. Clark just smiled at her question and explained while he walked around turning on lights.

"When I left, um, on my trip I sold most of my belongings and invested the, uh, money. I made good interest off of what I kept in savings because I wasn't making daily withdrawals for coffee, and I got lucky with the companies I invested in," he shrugged, smiling his goofy smile. "This place was open when I got back and so I, you know, moved in, I guess."

"You never told me where you went," Lois remarked, continuing to look around the apartment.

"Mommy?" Jason asked quietly from the doorway before Clark could even start to tell them about the trip.

"Yes, honey?"

"When are we going to go back to work? I'm sleepy," he said, looking from one adult to the other. Lois smiled gently and picked up her son.

"Clark is letting us sleep here," she explained. "He has an extra bedroom he's letting us use while we keep looking for our own apartment."

"Thank you, Mr. Clark," Jason said sleepily.

"Let's go find your pajamas," Lois said, Jason nodded sleepily, resting his head on his mother's shoulder. They followed Clark, who was carrying the suitcases, into the small second bedroom. It was simple, didn't look like it was used very often; the bed had red sheets and blankets that matched the curtains, which Lois pulled closed, blocking out the lovely view of the brick wall of the adjacent building.

Clark put the suitcases down on the bed and let them go through their bedtime routine, retreating to the small living area. The apartment was officially four rooms, not including the bathroom, but it was more like three and a half rooms anyways. There were the two bedrooms, the one Clark slept in was slightly larger than the one he'd made up for his guests. The kitchenette had all the basics, a refrigerator, oven, microwave, sink, and was located against the far wall; the table, just big enough for the three of them, was pressed against the half wall made by the countertops across from the appliances. The rest of the main room was set up with an overstuffed couch, a coffee table with bachelor-worthy ring stains, and a moderate sized TV. The bathroom was pushed in the corner between the door and Clark's bedroom. Everybody could hear everything if all the doors were open, but the doors made remarkable sound barriers.

Clark locked up the outside door and pulled an apple from the fridge while listening to mother and son brush teeth and read a very short bedtime story, the condensed version of _The Little Engine That Could_. Lois came out a few minutes later, shutting the door softly behind her, and smiling at Clark.

"Thank you so much for letting us stay with you," she said, standing across from him. She looked like she wanted to hug him, but decided against it.

"Anytime, Lois," he said meekly, turning towards the fridge. "Are you hungry, at all?" She looked uncomfortable so he gave her options. "I've got apples, and cheese… and milk… nevermind about the milk," he pulled the empty half gallon of milk out of the fridge and tossed the bottle, pushing things around in the fridge in search of something Lois-worthy. "Um… there's some leftover macaroni and cheese too, if you want," he turned around shrugging.

"An apple sounds good," she said awkwardly. Clark pulled another apple out and handed it to her with a smile.

The pair of them sat down at opposite ends of the couch and Clark turned on the news after finding the remote and then finding batteries for said piece of technology. The newscasters were just finishing with the weather and moving on to a recap of all the big stories. Lex Luthor was the first on the list; the anchor reminded them that Superman had turned him and Kitty Kowalski in to Metropolis authorities less than a week after he'd disappeared from the hospital. The pair of them were sitting in jail waiting for their days in court; this time Superman had promised to stick around to testify.

"That's not a story!" Lois complained when the anchor moved on after that summary, not giving any new information. "You're just telling us the same thing you've been saying for a month …" she trailed off when she remembered where she was. "Sorry," she said, smiling sheepishly at Clark, who was smiling back.

"So… had any interviews with Superman lately?" Clark asked after about another half an hour.

"I haven't seen him for awhile," she said, shrugging. "He says he's always around, but… I think he's avoiding me," she said, a little sadly. Clark scrunched up his eyebrows when he responded.

"He's a busy guy, I'm sure he's just keeping his distance, you know, with, um, everything that's been going on," he said, not really looking at her.

"I don't know," Lois said, before muttering so softly that Clark had to use his super-hearing to catch it, "It's all his fault anyways… coward." Clark plastered a goofy smile on his face and checked his watch.

"Golly, how can it only be nine thirty?" He asked overdramatically. "I can't believe I'm this tired… getting old," he chuckled. Lois smiled with him, but her thoughts were elsewhere. "I think I'm going to say goodnight, Lois," he said after another minute, handing her the remote. "There's that, um, if you just want to turn out the lights and make sure the balcony's locked before you turn in…" he smiled shyly.

"There's a balcony?" Lois asked, looking around before finally spotting the door tucked awkwardly between the refrigerator and the wall to the bedroom she and Jason were sharing. Clark just nodded.

"It's not very big, but it looks out over something of a backyard… there's a tree and some greenish yellow grass in the, uh, summertime," he smiled. Metropolis was now experiencing one of its coldest, windiest falls yet, and expecting snow at any time. The yard below was yellowish brown more than greenish yellow, and the tree was completely bare of leaves. Lois smiled back, standing to look out through the glass door.

"You have a nice skyline from this side," she said, looking across the courtyard and seeing the buildings outlined in the dim moonlight.

"Yep," Clark said, coming up behind her to look out the small door as well. The balcony it led to was only about four feet wide and barely much longer; the railing tall railing took away even more floor space, but it was a nice place to stand on nice evenings. It also made an easy entrance for air-bound travelers.

They stood like that for another minute, Clark taking the time to enjoy his view for the first time in months, and Lois lost in her own thoughts. She was still stuck on Superman's apparent abandonment. It didn't help that Clark was standing so close that she could feel the heat radiating from him. Clark's warm aura reminded her of a certain superhero's heat, making her spin around rather quickly.

"What?" Clark asked, looking down at her with confusion. Lois dismissed her thoughts; if Clark was Superman he certainly wouldn't have invited her, of all people, to use his spare bedroom, Superman was ignoring her… and his son.

"Nevermind," she said, shrugging.

"Oh, um, okay," he said, smiling charmingly. "Goodnight then, Lois," he smiled. He paused just long enough before turning around that Lois decided to hug him, and did.

"Thank you," she said again, hugging him tightly. Clark's arms responded before he was even aware what exactly was happening. He pulled her close in his own hug before he could stop himself. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd been this close to her, but it was the first time _Clark_ had been. He hoped the awkwardness he was feeling about that part would transfer to her as the awkwardness that he personified as Clark Kent.

To the contrary, Lois was focused on the familiarity of his embrace. His arms wrapped around her in the way that only one other man ever seemed to be able to hold her; the heat coming from his body made her feel like she might melt into his chest, not an entirely unpleasant thing.

"Anything I can do to help, Lois," Clark said, finally getting his emotions under control well enough to speak evenly. He didn't want to pull away, but he did anyway. "I'll see you in the morning," he promised, _and then we've got a whole weekend to figure this out,_ he thought to himself. Lois just nodded, watching him walk back through the kitchen and to his bedroom door, knocking over a stack of old issues of the Daily Planet on his way; he made another amazing save, catching all but one issue and stacking them back where they'd rested. Then he was gone, with a smile, into his bedroom.

Lois shook her head, turning off lights and changing into her pajamas and robe before walking out onto the balcony, closing the door firmly behind her to keep out the chill.

"You know, it's not really healthy for a person to be out in just a bathrobe in this kind of weather," Superman said from the vicinity of Jason's closed window. Lois shrugged.

"I though you were ignoring us," she said after a beat.

"I'm always around," he said suavely, landing on the small cement platform next to her, quite close because of its size. "I haven't meant to be distant," he said, looking her right in the eye. "I wasn't sure what to say to you… thought you might like some space," he admitted, his closeness and the honesty in his eyes made Lois shiver. He misinterpreted the reaction and moved closer, and she could feel his heat seeping into her core. Now she was sure; Clark was just as warm, if not warmer.

"Well, there's a few things I'd like to say to you," she said quietly, angrily, before realizing that she really didn't want to say them to him so much as simmer about the fact that he wasn't there for her to say them to him. He seemed to know this, and raised an amused eyebrow. "Where've you been?"

"I've been around," he said, backing up a small step. "Keeping my distance."

"I've been sleeping at the _Daily Planet_," she admitted.

"I know," she half glared at him. "You wanted me to sweep in and take you someplace nice?" He asked a little skeptically.

"I don't know what I wanted," she said after a moment.

"I know," he said again, this time she really glared at him. "So, who's this man you're staying with?"

"Clark Kent."

"The Clark you talked about before… the one from the _Daily Planet_?" He asked.

"That's the one."

"And why are you with him?"

"I'm not _with_ him with him," she clarified quickly. "He noticed that we were staying at the _Planet_ and offered up his spare room."

"I'm glad you have friends that you can count on," he said, she didn't catch the awkwardness in his voice.

"I wanted to count on you," she accused. He sighed.

"I… I can't always be where I want to be," he sighed. Lois narrowed her eyes at him, but she understood what he meant; he was Superman, he had to save everybody else before he could do something for himself.

"I know," she said softly, not liking it. "Clark's a good guy, though," she said to fill the silence a moment later. "He's kind a geek—really clumsy—but a friend. He's good with Jason, too."

Their conversation was interrupted when Superman's head jerked toward the sound of a shuttle attempting reentry. It was going poorly. The poor shuttle had had enough trouble getting into space, and now they were having more issues. He frowned, looking down at Lois, but she already knew what was coming. "I'm sorry, Lois, but I have to go." She nodded. "I'll try and come around more often."

"Well, you're always around," she said, almost sarcastically. He gave her a worried smile and was gone, racing across the sky faster than a speeding bullet to come to the aid of the struggling astronauts.

Lois closed her eyes, breathing in the sharp night air and pulling her robe closer. She considered lighting a cigarette, but she was cold, tired, and those were as good of reasons as any to hold off. She slipped back inside and locked the balcony doors as she'd been instructed before settling in bed next to her son.

- - -

The three of them slept in the next morning. Lois and Jason were reveling in the lack of lumps in their mattress and the fact that they didn't have to be up at a certain time so that they could fool their coworkers, and Clark was just plain tired from all the superhero business he'd been out on last night. After the shuttle had safely made it home, he'd flown to London to save a double-decker bus when it plunged into a lake, and then to California to stop a man from ending his life off the Golden Gate Bridge. It had been like that all night, everything was on the opposite side of the planet. He didn't mind the flying; it was a beautiful, if brisk night for it, but even Superman needs to sleep.

The sound of a door closing tightly outside his room brought him into full consciousness about an hour before he would've preferred. He lay there considering what the noise could've been for almost a full minute before he realized that the heartbeats that had been in his apartment all night weren't there anymore; he grabbed his robe and rushed out into the living room. Why would they leave?

The question was answered when he saw the fridge. Lois had left him a note, held up by a cheerful magnet his mother had bought for him for Christmas just before he left for Krypton. The note let him know that they'd gone to the grocery store because he was a hopeless bachelor. He smiled to himself and got into the shower, hoping he'd be out by the time his guests returned, and feeling a little guilty about the lack of appropriate food.

Lois returned just as Clark was getting out of the shower. He didn't even think about it, really, wrapping a towel around himself, popping his glasses onto his face, and answering the door; he'd forgotten to give Lois a key. Jason walked in, ignoring Clark's strange appearance, heading strait for the TV. Clark found himself blushing deep crimson, and Lois turned a similar shade.

"Sorry, I should've given you a key," Clark stammered, making sure to keep his arms down and turn in such a way that she wouldn't notice the faint white scar left over by the kryptonite Luthor had stabbed him with.

"I, um, yeah," Lois managed to say, almost dropping one of the huge bag of groceries she was carrying.

"Here," Clark said, taking the heavier bag and using it to cover the scar on his side. Lois couldn't take her eyes off of his abs, let alone even think of walking when something so _hot_ was so close. Clark walked into the kitchen as though he hadn't noticed her distraction, and she came to her senses. She watched the muscles of his back ripple as he walked, getting a nice view of his biceps when he put the bag down. Luckily, she was too distracted by his magnificent arms to notice the uneven scar on his back. "I'll just, um, I'll just be a minute… clothes," he said, gesturing awkwardly towards the bathroom. He was flattered that Lois would take such interest in Clark Kent's build, but then, she had certainly liked Superman's build…He shook his head, making sure to keep his side out of view until the bathroom door was closed.

Lois set the bag down, breathing hard. Who would've guessed that under Clark's geeky old-fashioned three piece suits he had one of the hottest bodies she'd ever had the privilege to look upon. She caught herself fanning her face with her hand and turned even redder, glad that Clark didn't have x-ray vision to watch her through the door. She quickly turned to put the groceries in the fridge, thankful for the cool air.

"You didn't have to…" Clark started when he got out of the bathroom, now fully dressed and ready to be Clark Kent all day. He stopped his words when he saw the look he got from Lois, who was pouring her son a bowl of Cheerios. It was somewhere in between _You needed food no matter what you say_ and _Where the hell did your muscles go?_

"It's the least I could do, Clark, and besides…" she glanced around the apartment and at the fridge, "you needed something besides cheese and apples." Clark smiled and nodded sheepishly at that.

Breakfast was a bit awkward, Clark worried about whether or not she'd noticed the scar, and Lois worried about her sudden inability to concentrate on anything but trying to see a shadow of those muscles again through his blue button-up shirt. _At least he had the sense to wear jeans at home and not go for some sort of dress pant on the weekend_, Lois thought. Even she had traded her skirt and blouse for jeans and a t-shirt.

After they made it through the awkward breakfast, the rest of the day went smoothly. There were no disasters that needed Superman's attention in the middle of social situations with his guests; there was only one incident where he had to disappear to save a little old lady crossing the street from an oncoming taxi in a hurry. Luckily, it happened on the corner where the three of them had been eating their hotdogs, and the other two had been distracted enough not to notice his absence.

- - -

The three of them ended the perfect day by laughing over Chinese food for dinner. Jason was enjoying the fact that he could eat whatever he wanted out of the selection; his allergies had faded into the past after his exposure to kryptonite.

"That was great," Lois said quietly a few hours later, having finished putting an exhausted Jason to bed.

"I'm-um glad you had fun," Clark said, lounging on the couch comfortably and channel surfing. The news wasn't due to start for another half an hour, and there was nothing much to be expected until then. Lois regarded him from her vantage in the kitchen, a few steps away from the balcony door. She had rarely seen him relaxed, in fact, she'd always had trouble imagining Clark relaxing, he was always so nervous; it was part of what made him such a klutz. The sight was only made stranger by his lack of a suit-coat and his rolled up sleeves, revealing some of those muscles she'd seen that morning and making it had for her to breath. "What?" He asked, noticing her look and becoming a bit self-conscious, he promptly dropped the remote on the floor, sending the battery flying away from him and its case went skittering under the couch.

"Nevermind," she said, chuckling and going after the battery while Clark got down on his hands and knees to retrieve the elusive piece of plastic.

Clark spent the next minute and a half fumbling with the remote control, stuffing the battery in properly and then fussing with the little piece of plastic that didn't seem to want to fit.

"Wait, go back!" Lois said, pulling Clark from his focus on the remote. He'd been pushing buttons in his attempt to make the piece fit. He pushed the "previous channel" button, popping the rogue plastic back in place with ease now that it wasn't his first priority.

"… to Cairo for an update on the situation," the newswoman said seriously. The image flashed and there was a reporter standing on a high balcony, getting a nice shot of the skyline, and shouting into his microphone.

"Thank you Metropolis: this is Dick Newman reporting from Cairo, where the first _serious_ event of the day has occurred, and we're yet to see Superman," Dick said, glancing over his shoulder, around over the balcony at whatever it was that was happening.

Clark sat there, stunned, straining his super hearing for any sign of anything, any sound that shouldn't be there, but got nothing. He turned up the volume on the TV and paid close attention.

The view shifted, but Dick continued to dictate. The sight on the screen wasn't a pleasant one. The streets of Cairo were completely flooded, the water coming from nowhere and rising rapidly. Clark glanced at Lois, trying to find a way to slip past her.

"Less than ten minutes ago, these streets were just as dry as they have been for the past few weeks," Dick told them, coming back into view. "A huge rock, most likely a meteorite, burst through the atmosphere and had blocked up a portion of the Nile River, our sources tell us that the meteor landed just right, and is large enough so that it has re-routed a flow of the great river; sending it directly into the capital city," he looked concerned, the view wobbled slightly and he glanced down over his shoulder again.

"What was that, Dick?" The anchorwoman asked, sounding more concerned for a coworker than about getting the whole story.

"The water's pushing on the buildings," Dick said, nervously. "It appears that… ohmygod!" He cried out, the camera view soared up awkwardly, finally focusing on a building across the street that was falling into the re-routed river. "Where's Superman!?" Dick shouted before the screen went blue and was quickly transferred back to the anchorwoman, looking horrified.

"We'll be back with more on Cairo, right after this," she said before the station began playing a commercial for some lotion or another.

"Where's Superman?" Lois asked, spinning around to look out the balcony window.

_Why didn't I hear it?_ Clark asked himself, still trying to figure out a way to slip away from Lois. Just then, his head felt as though it might split in two; the super hearing he'd been tuning in to the Cairo area finally sent him the shock waves of the giant rock's impact. He winced, glad he was laying down.

"Mommy?" Jason's voice came from his doorway, distracting both adults.

"What's wrong, honey?" Lois asked kindly, the boy looked like he might be sick.

"My head hurts," he said, squinting his eyes against the light and walking unsteadily towards the couch. Clark understood where he was coming from; the sound of the impact was still ringing in his ears, making his eyes water.

"Do you want a glass of water?" Lois suggested sympathetically. Clark fought off the headache, making it to his feet, still without a proper excuse to leave.

"Okay," Jason said, shrugging. _Not gonna help,_ Clark thought sadly.

"I'll be right back," he said vaguely before disappearing through the door, leaving his shoes and jacket behind.

"Clark, where's your Tylenol… Clark?" Lois said, looking around the now empty living room.

"He said he'll be right back," Jason said, taking the offered glass of water and taking a sip while his mother went to search the bathroom for Tylenol.

Clark flew over Cairo, barely believing what he was seeing. The water had already risen partway up the ground floor level, pouring through the doors of buildings and out the windows. People were rushing to the topmost levels, and screaming with terror as the water shook the buildings they were in, and brought down the buildings in which their neighbors had sought refuge.

First thing was first; he had to get rid of the mysterious meteor.

Clark approached the huge rock from above, attempting to see what it was made of using his x-ray vision and having no luck. _Lead,_ he thought to himself, circling around and looking for the best place to grip it. The thing was pear-shaped, the rounder end resting in the water and the pointier end sticking up; it was lumpy and uneven but there was no good place to hold onto it. He grabbed the nearest rough edge and pulled it up; the "soft" lump of metal rose into the sky with him easily. _Well, that could explain the delayed sound…_he thought to himself, not really believing the excuse.

After the huge lump of lead was safely out of orbit and drifting in the direction of Mars, Superman returned his attention to the struggling Egyptian city.

Clark returned to his apartment near midnight. Lois was asleep on the couch, her son, _their_ son, tucked comfortably under her chin. The news was still on; Dick Newman was now standing in a muddy Cairo road elaborating on the wonders of Superman for the anchorwoman in the States.

Clark looked at the pair of them, smiling to himself. Jason stirred, "Daddy?" He asked, talking more to the people in his dream than to the man looking over him. Clark let himself pretend that Jason had recognized him, and scooped the boy up, careful not to disturb either of the slumbering people. Lois curled up into herself slightly when Jason's warmth moved away, but didn't wake. Jason snuggled into Clark's chest, and Clark couldn't help but smile.

After tucking Jason in, Clark walked back out into the living room. Lois was still sleeping soundly. Clark debated whether to put a blanket on her or carry her into the next room. Unable to pass up the opportunity to hold her close, Clark bent down and picked her up effortlessly. Lois stirred more than her son when she left the couch; she was much less accustomed to being picked up than the young boy.

"Superman?" Lois asked, opening her eyes slightly just before they reached the doorway.

"No," Clark chuckled, "just me."

"Clark?" Lois asked, waking up completely. She looked up at his face; from her vantage near his shoulder she could see most of his face clearly with no glasses blocking any of his features. "Are you… carrying me?"

"Well, um," Clark stuttered, glancing around the room as though he might find a reasonable explanation written on one of his walls. "You were asleep, and, well, I know better than anybody how hard that couch is on the spine…" he shrugged, letting her down.

Lois stayed close, watching Clark intently. He glanced nervously around the room, pulling the door to the room where Jason was now sleeping shut. "What?" He asked her after another second, wanting to take a step back, but, at the same time, wanting to get closer. As close as she used to let Superman come.

"I never thought of you as the type to," she paused, smiling, "carry a person to bed." _Never thought of you as the type to have big enough muscles to carry a person to bed,_ she smiled to herself.

"I, well… I," he shrugged lamely, blushing deep red. She still just stood there, smiling up at him. "Lois, I…"

"Can I ask you a question, Clark?"

"Well, sure," he shrugged, relaxing slightly.

"Where did you go?"

"I went to see if I could find some Tylenol for Jason's headache," he started.

"There was some in your medicine cabinet."

"In my… really?"

"Yup," she said, cocking her head to the side.

"Well shucks, Lois, I wish I'd known that," he smiled foolishly. "Was he alright?"

"He said that it was gone by the time I brought the medicine out to him," she shrugged.

"Why was he…?" He held his thumb up over his shoulder to indicate the couch.

"He was worried about you."

"What?"

"Well, he saw what was happening in Cairo when he came into the living room, and he wanted to stay out and make sure you got back alright," she shrugged, her suspicions confirmed by his reaction.

"Wh-What?"

"Clark," Lois said softly. She reached up, trailing her hands up his chest and neck as she went. Clark wanted to pull away, to slip deep into his Clark Kent personality and stutter his way into the privacy of his own room, but there was that little part of his brain that wanted Lois to know. To remember.

"Lois, I don't…" but she pressed a finger to his lips, glancing up almost seductively as she reached for the top button on his shirt. It was a plain shirt, blue with a normal collar, just like all of the other simple shirts that he wore to blend in with the rest of the population. She smiled up at him, undoing the second button.

Even though she was expecting it, hoping for it even, Lois gasped slightly when she saw the bright blue neckline appear. "Superman!" She breathed, looking up at him. This time he was looking down at her so she was looking at Clark Kent, the bespectacled man she worked with every day. Her hands moved on their own as she stared into his face, unbuttoning the shirt down to his belt before moving up to trace the "S," her fingers barely brushing the fabric.

"Lois, I…" he wasn't sure what he had been planning to say so he just stopped.

"So you didn't abandon us," she said softly.

"Lois I could never… never again… I wish I could…" he stopped again; it wasn't often that he was at such a loss as Superman that he would stutter like Clark Kent. "I never want to make that mistake again," he finished quietly, looking away from her eyes and staring through the door at their sleeping son in the next room.

Lois looked up at him, her lips sealed and her eyes clouded. She reached up and pulled his glasses off his face, tipping her head slightly to the side as she did so. "I can't believe I never noticed…" Clark smiled at her, reaching out for her shoulders and resisting the urge to sigh with relief when she didn't recoil.

"I love you, Lois," he admitted self-consciously. They just stood there. She stared at him, and he waited for her response. She didn't say anything, but she didn't look away. Clark was feeling very exposed, both verbally and physically, halfway between Superman and Clark as he was.

Lois bit her lip before going up on her tiptoes and kissing him full on the mouth.

Clark relaxed, pulling her close and kissing her back. The pair of them stood together like that for awhile, enjoying forgiveness.

"I'm sorry," Clark whispered in her ear when they came up for air. He kissed her neck gently while Lois silently tried to figure out what he was apologizing for, running her hands along the smooth blue fabric across his back under the button-up that had come untucked. He never had to explain it because he was so good at distracting her.

They settled on the couch, Lois lay on top of him breathing in his scent and enjoying the warmth that could only come from him. Clark was just about to drift into a peaceful sleep when Lois whispered, "I love you too," thinking he was asleep. He waited until he felt her head settle down onto his chest before smiling.


	4. Chapter 4

- - - **Chapter Four**

"Mommy! Mr. Clark!" Jason shouted when he rose with the sun the next morning. He had woken and gotten a jolt when his mother wasn't lying next to him. He'd quickly made his way into the living room and been very surprised to find the pair of them, his mother still on top of Clark, fast asleep on the couch even with the morning sunlight falling on them through the windows that they'd forgotten to close the night before.

"Shh," Clark said softly, coming back into the waking world with a start. First he registered Lois on top of him with her son in the same room, then he realized that his shirt was still open underneath Lois, therefore he couldn't stand up without revealing the outfit underneath to Jason. "Jason, could you hand me my glasses?" he whispered, trying not to wake Lois. Jason looked at him sideways, about to ask a question, but Clark beat him to it, "Nevermind."

Jason just smiled and let the glasses lie where they were. Clark stood up, keeping Lois close to his chest with her legs pulled up as well so he could carry her into the bedroom. After setting her down, Clark buttoned his shirt quickly before turning back towards his son. Even if the boy knew that he was Superman, he still didn't like to feel so exposed.

"So what's on the schedule today, Jason?" He asked, still whispering. Jason was sitting at the kitchen table, watching him carefully.

"Mommy said I could go to Matt's house to play today," Jason said, sounding excited.

"Do you like playing at Matt's?" Clark asked, rummaging through the fridge until he found the eggs, and the turning to a cabinet to look for a frying pan.

"Yeah, his Dad's really cool… he lets us help him build things in his workshop, and we play soccer, and last time I went there,-" Jason launched into a detailed recount of everything he'd done at Matt's house on his previous visit. Clark listened patiently, smiling in the right parts and asking the right questions, including how he liked his eggs, silently glad that Jason didn't seem overly eager in talking about a few things that had come into light in the past twenty-four hours.

Lois was having what could only be a nightmare. She kept seeing herself shooting Clark in a hotel room. Over and over again the scene played in her mind, and then she'd see his face contorted in pain, reddish light shining, reflecting almost, off his skin. She woke up in a cold sweat and shook herself, getting her bearings. She was in the same room she'd slept in the night before, only on the wrong side of the bed, and Jason was gone.

"Jason?" She asked, walking out into the main room worriedly.

"Right here, mom!" Jason said, running over and giving her a warm hug. "Did you sleep good?"

"Yes honey, thank you," she said smiling. Her smile widened when she saw Clark, alive and well, and making eggs.

"Will scrambled work for you?" He asked, all traces of a stutter gone.

"Scrambled is perfect," she said, making her way to the coffee pot and avoiding eye contact. Last night had been a rush of emotions, and she needed time to process the information.

"Jason was just telling me that he had plans to go to Matt's house today," Clark said, bringing Lois her eggs and taking a plate of fried eggs out of the microwave, where they'd been keeping warm, for himself.

"Oh yeah!" Lois said, jerking herself away from the dream she'd been reliving. It hadn't been a normal nightmare, it had seemed real. "Jason do you remember what time we said I'd drop you off…?"

"Ten o'clock," Jason said matter-o-factly. Lois glanced up at the clock.

"Well, that gives me a half an hour to eat and get dressed before we've got to leave," she sighed, squirting ketchup all over her eggs and shoveling a forkful into her mouth. Jason wrinkled up his nose at the ketchup.

"Slow down, Lois, I can take him over," Clark suggested, his eggs were already half gone and he was still dressed.

"What?" Lois looked a little surprised, assuming he was talking about flying Jason to his friend's house. "Is that really…"

"Well I would just borrow your car and get the directions," he put on a classic Clark goofy smile. "That way you could have a little time to yourself."

"Well, um, if you're sure," Lois said, glancing at her son. "What do you think honey, is it okay if Clark drives you to Matt's house?"

"Sure!" Jason said, swinging his legs happily beneath the table. "I can show you the treehouse we built last summer then, Mr. Clark!" The pair of them exchanged nearly identical goofy grins.

"Sounds great!"

Matt's family lived in a nice house close to the house that Jason and Lois used to live in with Richard. In fact, Clark could see Richard's sea plane tied up in the bay just a few houses down. Lois hadn't mentioned his being in town; he scanned the house for any signs of activity. Richard was inside with a small group of people, Clark realized one was a realtor whose face was on the sign in the yard. Frowning a little, Clark followed Jason through the gate and knocked on the door.

"That's the tree house we built, Mr. Clark," Jason said, pointing up to a huge wooden structure nailed into the branches of a tall oak tree in the front yard.

"That's quite a tree house," Clark said, meaning it. "Doesn't look like you'll get much use out of it today, though, eh?" Jason shook his head. The wind was gusting around them, blowing their hair all over the place; it would've led to very cold hands and noses, but the pair of them had a few special genes helping out on that one.

"What're you doing waiting out there?!" A woman's voice came through the door and Clark could hear her fiddling with the lock. "It's got to be three below zero!" The door finally came open, revealing a plump woman in her early thirties wearing jeans and a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt.

"Hi," Clark said awkwardly as Jason stepped over the threshold calmly.

"Who've you brought with you, Jason?" The woman asked cheerily, ushering Clark in to the foyer where Jason was sitting on a bench pulling off his shoes.

"This is Mr. Clark, Mommy's friend from work," Jason said, smiling at Clark. "I showed him our treehouse."

"That's excellent!" The woman said, smiling, "Matt's up in his bedroom waiting for you."

"Thanks Mrs. Gallagher!" And then Jason was gone. He rushed up the staircase and burst into his friend's room, Clark watched through the ceiling, smiling as he watched the pair of them start building something Lego right away.

"They have fun together," Mrs. Gallagher said, still smiling. She was looking up the staircase Jason had just run up, not noticing that Clark had been able to follow the boy's progress through to his destination.

"Thanks for letting him come over today," Clark said nervously. "He's been talking about coming all morning."

"So has Matt. They're going to be busy all afternoon," she smiled warmly, finally looking away from the staircase and turning her attention to Clark.

"Do you want a cup of coffee before you head back out in the cold, Mr. Clark?" She asked, getting ready to move down the hall toward the kitchen to make him coffee.

"Only if you've got some ready," Clark said, "I don't want to be a bother…"

"It's no bother," she was already in the kitchen, pressing buttons on her coffee pot. "I'm Melissa Gallagher, by the way, you can call me Melissa," she smiled as he came in the room.

"Clark Kent," Clark said warmly.

"Why does he call you Mr. Clark, then?" She raised a curious eyebrow.

"Just what he calls me," Clark said, shrugging. The house was suddenly filled by the loud sound of a two things impacting each other, and, though only Clark could hear, the slight groaning of wood. "What's that?"

"That would be my husband," Melissa said lovingly, patting the door to the basement as she passed.

"He seems… loud."

"Sometimes," Melissa chuckled, pulling two mugs out of a high cupboard. "So you work at the Daily Planet with Lois?"

"Yep," he said, standing awkwardly just inside the doorway. "For a couple of years now, actually."

"Really, what section do you write for?"

"I write where it fits," he shrugged. "Lois gets the front page, I take what I can get," he smiled humbly.

"Funny that a girl like Lois would fall for a guy like you," Melissa said, not rudely, just an observation. "You'd think she'd have learned her lesson about office romance by now… Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to insult you, just…?"

"Oh, we're not together!" Clark said quickly, Melissa raised a curious eyebrow.

"And yet you're dropping her son off at his Sunday afternoon play-date?"

"She's just staying with me until she can find an apartment that suits her needs," he explained, shrugging. "I offered to drop Jason off. Give her a little quiet time."

"That woman's never heard of 'quiet time,'" Melissa chuckled.

"Probably not, she's probably writing her next big article as we speak," Clark said, chuckling at the truth of it.

The coffee maker dinged, and the hot black liquid trickled into the waiting pot, steaming all the way down.

"Thank you for the coffee," Clark said, taking the steaming mug from her with a smile.

"Not at all," Melissa said, smiling right back. There was thunder on the stairs and a second later two little boys of about the same height, Jason was a little taller, burst through the kitchen door. "Boys don't run in the house," Melissa instructed, not looking up from pouring her own coffee.

"Sorry Mrs. Gallagher," Jason said, walking a little softer as he followed Matt towards the basement steps. "Hey, Mr. Clark, do you want to come down and see the boat Matt's Dad is building?"

"Sure," Clark said after a glance at Melissa for approval.

The downstairs level seemed to have been entirely converted into a workshop. A man stood in on corner, driving nails into a huge wooden structure that looked like it could be a boat, like it wanted to be a boat but wasn't sure yet.

"Wow!" Jason said, running up behind Matt to get a closer look. The man stopped hammering and turned to face the three people that were interrupting his work. _Wow,_ Clark thought, more concerned about his hearing than the odd-looking boat.

"Can we help, Dad?!" Matt asked, rocking up and down on his heals while looking extremely excited, though not quite so excited as Jason.

"Sure, sport," Mr. Gallagher said, going over to another bench and pulling out a toolbox full of kid-sized tools. He handed each boy a hammer and a fistful of nails, "I need you to nail this board," he held up a plain plank, "onto this one," he held up another, slightly larger plank," for me and then you can paint the name of our boat onto it."

"Okay!" Said Matt, immediately getting himself set up on the floor to start pounding on the nails.

"What's it going to be called?" Jason asked, still just holding the tools he'd been given.

"The _Gertrude_," Mr. Gallagher said happily, "after Matt's grandma."

"Oh," Jason said, not quite so happy anymore. He walked over to where Matt was happily pounding the nails through the smaller board and into the second, joining him with equal enthusiasm after a moment. Clark frowned slightly, but smiled when he noticed Mr. Gallagher's eyes on him.

"They wanted me to come see the boat," Clark said, Mr. Gallagher smiled at him, looking slightly curious. "Oh, I'm Clark Kent. I work with Lois- they're staying with me till they find an apartment."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kent, I'm Chris Gallagher," they shook hands.

"Call me Clark."

"Chris."

"Chris it is… well, I'll leave you guys to it then," he smiled down at the boys, who had stopped hammering for a brief moment. "Have fun, Jason, I'll see you later."

"K, bye Mr. Clark."

Clark smiled at him, nodded to Chris, and went back up the stairs. "It's a nice boat," Clark told Melissa, handing her his now empty mug.

"Yeah, Chris goes kind of crazy on his weekend projects like that," she smiled.

"I think I'd better get going," Clark said, smiling back. "What time did you want us to come pick him up?"

"Oh, whenever's fine… He can stay for dinner, if you like," she suggested. "We're having a simple dinner, chicken soup and bread. His allergies will be fine with that, right?"

"Yes, that should be great," Clark said, not wanting to explain why Jason's allergies were no longer a problem. "Give us a call if he needs to come home sooner," Clark said, handing her Lois's cell phone number. "Lois should have her phone on all day, knowing Lois," he smiled.

"Sounds great, Clark, thanks for bringing him over," they were at the door now, and Clark was putting on his jacket.

"Thanks for having him, we'll see you around seven, then?"

"Sounds perfect, have a nice day, Mr. Kent," there was something in her voice and her smile that made Clark look back at her from the driveway. He shook his head, pulling Lois's keys out of his pocket and waving before heading down the street.

Clark's prolonged absence had driven Lois to channel surfing to see if he'd gone off to save some small country from destruction. Finding no traces of Superman on the morning news, Lois hit mute and let her thoughts boil over.

Clark is Superman. Well, that makes things a lot less complicated... and a lot more complicated. My best friend who I might've been falling for also happens to be the world's greatest hero that I've been drooling over for years. He's got some explaining to do. Lois returned her attention to the TV, hoping to keep herself from getting angry before he had a chance to explain. _Just give him a chance. He's probably got a great explanation for why you can't remember anything about Jason's conception or the days surrounding that... Yeah. Sure he does._

"That has to be the longest it's taken anybody to drop Jason off anywhere," Lois commented when he walked through the door, holding her anger in check.

"Well, fist Jason showed me the treehouse, then I had to have a cup of coffee with Mrs. Gallagher, then Jason had to show me the boat Mr. Gallagher was building, all that stuff," he said plopping onto the couch next to her and touching his cheeks softly. "They seem to smile an awful lot."

"Yeah," Lois said, smiling stiffly. "They do that."

"Looks like Jason will have fun though," he didn't smile back at her, still pushing on his sore cheeks. "Isn't it a little long for a play day, though? She said we didn't have to come get him 'til after dinner."

"That's the way we've always done it with Matt," Lois shrugged. "The boys love playing together so much, and it's really not a problem because they keep each other out of trouble."

"If you say so," Clark smiled, then the smile faded when he finally noticed the anger behind her eyes. "What's wrong?"

She just stared at him for a moment. _What do you mean "what's wrong?!" You should know what's wrong. It's your fault. _She decided not to say anything, turning her face away from him to watch whatever channel she'd settled on.

"Have you told him Super-I'm his dad?" Clark asked a little nervously after a few minutes of tense silence.

"He knows that Richard wasn't his real father," she said, trying not to glare at him. "Richard made that clear when he walked out giving us the rest of the night to pack…" Clark moved closer on the couch. He'd heard that conversation, having come to check up on them. He'd been about to come in through the window to settle them down when he'd heard his own name shouted back and forth and decided against it.

"Lois I'm so sor-"

"No, Clark," she stopped him point blank, pulling away from and looking him in the eye.

"Lois-"

"Let's not talk about that," she said decisively, Clark could only nod.

"So what _does_ Jason know?"

"He knows Richard wasn't his father," she paused. "I think he suspects that he's related to Superman, but he doesn't know how… it makes it hard for him to guess when he doesn't really know how... you know."

"Yeah," Clark said, uncomfortable again.

"Anyway," Lois said, shrugging. "He's doing alright," she smiled. "He clamped onto Mr. Gallagher about a week after Richard kicked us out. Father figure, I guess. He's also been drawing Superman a lot, and of himself with Superman. He asked me the other night if I could get him to visit; he wants to connect with, well, you- being you."

"And you…?"

"What?"

"What's wrong, Lois?"

"You left me," she said, accusing, finally letting some of her anger out. "You left me and I was pregnant with your child. I can't even remember _becoming_ pregnant with your child," her face and voice screamed accusation, but her eyes revealed only hurt. "You left the world alone, me alone... you left _Jason _alone. When you came back I was confused for about a day. Why would Superman come back to the people he forgot? But then we were on the _Gertrude,_ and Jason threw a _piano _across the room. Why would Superman come back? For the son he made his lover forget!" She was on her feet, as far from Clark as she could get, pacing the length of the room in agitation. She turned to face him, crossing her arms and glaring at him, "You were my friend, Clark, and Superman was my dream guy… both of you disappeared, which makes sense now, but…" she finally trailed off, stomping out onto the balcony and slamming the door behind her so had that the glass nearly shattered.

Clark sighed heavily, leaning forward and massaging his temples. How had they gone from happily reunited the previous evening back to this strained- whatever it was they had. Taking a deep breath, he got up and went to join Lois on the balcony.

"Lois," he said slowly, not sure whether he was asking permission to speak or asking not to be interrupted. She didn't turn towards him, but she didn't turn away either. "I'm sorry for putting you through everything I put you through; I swear I didn't know that you were pregnant… I never would've left if I'd known." She turned to face him, glaring.

"Why don't I remember?"

"That time was forgotten," he said evasively, something not missed by Lois. He sighed,

"It was a… complicated choice," he shifted from foot to foot.

"A choice? I had a _choice_?"

He was silent.

"I'm sorry, Clark, but I would never have chosen to forget something like that."

"Under the circumstances, it was the best option," he pulled his glasses off, scrubbing a tired hand over his eyes and looking her in the eye.

"Why was it the best option?" She asked, not backing down.

"It was eating you up," he said almost too quietly for her to hear. "We couldn't... it was too dangerous... I was so _stupid_...!"

"I'll agree with that last part," Lois said, but her glare had softened. They stood there for a moment, staring at each other.

"Lois, I stand by what I said last night," Clark finally said. "I love you. I never want to leave you again. I want to be able to stand by you, raise your, our, son…"

"Clark-"

"Lois-"

"I _want_ to love you too, but…" she sighed, looking down at her feet. "You weren't there," she said softly, almost too softly for a normal person to hear her, but Clark heard it just fine.

"I want to be here for you now," he took a step closer. "I was such an idiot before... I didn't think we could make it work... It was so painful for you- I just took the easiest way out. Lois... I'm so sorry."

Lois finally looked up at him. She was crying a little, silent tears wetting her cheeks; Clark put a gentle hand on her face, wiping the tears away, still thankful that she didn't push his small attempts at contact away.

"I wish I could remember," Lois finally said.

"I don't know how to help you with that," he said, smiling sadly. "I think, now that you know there's something missing, you might start to remember little things, but…"

"There's nothing you can do? No magic pill to swallow...?" Clark just shook his head, daring another step closer. She didn't speak, just lay her head on his chest and closed her eyes. Immediately, the dream she'd had the previous night returned to her; the view of herself shooting a gun at Clark in a hotel room. "Did I shoot you?" Clark chuckled and she tipped her head up to look at him.

"You fired an empty round at me to get me to _think_ you'd shot me and get me to admit that I was Superman," he said.

"Oh, good."

"What?"

"I've been having this dream," she said, smiling at his almost offended reaction. "I thought I shot you- not a very good way to prove a theory if you ask me…"

"Well, it couldn't have hurt me… wouldn't have been so pleasant if you were wrong about me, though…"

"But you said it was an empty round."

"It was."

"Then it would've been okay," she smiled at him, knowing she'd won. Clark just smiled, shook his head, and kissed her forehead. They just stood there, slightly stunned; it seemed such a natural thing for him to do even though they were supposed to be mad at each other, or at least she was supposed to be mad at him. "This is so confusing," Lois admitted, leaning into his chest again. For the moment, her anger had dissipated, and Clark didn't want to say anything to upset the moment, so he just put his arms around her.

"You're freezing," he informed her. She shrugged apathetically in his arms. Ignoring her indifference, Clark flew a few inches above the balcony and maneuvered them into the apartment.

"No fair," Lois protested, but she smiled at him. Clark was about to respond, but was cut off by Lois's cell phone ringing. With an apologetic smile, Lois walked over to her purse and began digging through it for the phone mumbling something along the lines of, "Need x-ray vision just to find anything in here…"

"Hello? – What? – Melissa, what's wrong? – Is he okay? – Well what's the… okay – I'll be right there," she flipped the phone shut.

"What's wrong?" Clark asked. "Jason already tired of the Gallaghers after, what, three hours?"

"No," Lois looked worried. "Melissa wouldn't say exactly what. Said I wouldn't believe her if she said, but that I should get over there right now."

"Do you want me to take you?" Clark asked, becoming a little concerned for Jason himself. Lois only nodded, letting him don the costume before wrapping her arms around his chest.

They landed a block away from the Gallagher household; close enough to walk and get there quickly, but far enough away so that they could say 'we parked around the corner.'

"No, leave that on!" Lois complained when he changed back into his Clark Kent clothes.

"I don't hear anything going wrong," Clark said, noting to himself that his hearing hadn't been entirely accurate as of late. "I don't think you'll need Superman this time."

"Can you _see_ anything gone wrong?" Lois asked, looking in the direction of the Gallagher house. Clark looked, and couldn't see anything that stood out.

Clark gave a few hearty knocks to get Melissa to the door. Lois stood there, shifting her weight and glancing from Clark to the door and back.

"Oh thank goodness," Melissa said, dismissing the fact that they'd arrived a full two minutes after she'd called, which was impossible over lunch hour in Metropolis. "Nobody's hurt, he's just…" she made a confused face and led them into the house and down the stairs.

The huge workshop was completely still, no banging hammers or laughing children this time. The boat had come along quickly in the short time since Clark had left, it now sat, at tallest, almost ten feet off the floor from its place on the supports. At first look, nothing seemed to be wrong.

And then Lois noticed her son curled in a ball in the corner, as far away from the boat as possible.

"Honey, what's wrong?" She asked, running to his side and hearing Clark follow almost as quickly. Matt and his father were standing next to the boat, looking completely lost.

"Mom?" He asked in a voice so small it made Lois's heart hurt. He didnt' look hurt, or like he'd been crying. He looked utterly terrified, though.

"It's okay, honey, I'm here. What happened?" She wasn't sure if she was asking Jason or the Gallagher men, who still hadn't moved. Jason didn't move to explain, just turned his gaze to Clark. Something seemed to click behind his eyes and he relaxed slightly. Losi turned to face Chris Gallagher, waiting for an explanation.

"We're not sure," Chris said slowly, looking at Jason carefully. "One minute he was fine, the next he was terrified and all bunched up in the corner like that," he gestured helplessly at the still scared but not quite so terrified form of Jason in the corner. "I thought he hit himself with the hammer, but he says he's not hurt..."

"Honey?" Lois asked again, but Jason wouldn' t look at her.

"Jason?" Clark asked, holding Jason's gaze. Jason didn't say a word, but he unfolded himself and stood up. He was holding his hammer in his hands like a lifeline, completely hiding the part used for hitting the nails. Clark x-rayed through his son's fingers and suddenly knew exactly what was going on. "It's okay, Jason," he said quietly, walking over and picking the boy up. "Let's just go home, now."

Jason just nodded, and Lois gave them both a look that told them she'd be getting an explanation as soon as the door closed behind them.

"I'm sorry, Melissa," Lois said when they entered the kitchen again. "I don't know what came over him... we'll give you a call, okay?"

"Alright."

"I'll see you at school!" Matt yelled to Jason when they reached the door. Jason nodded over Clark's shoulder but didn't look any more comfortable.

"Well?" Lois asked after they'd walked about a half a block and were approaching the alley they'd landed in.

"I'll explain it when we get home," Clark said and Jason nodded into his chest, still clutching the hammer tight. Clark handed their son to Lois and ducked down the alley to change into Superman. Wordlessly, he came forward again and pulled the pair of them close, sandwiching Jason protectively between both of them.

The flight back to Clark's apartment was silent. Lois watched her son, trying to find any reaction in his features, but his face was unusually quiet as he looked up at the man who was his father. They landed, and Clark set the pair of them gently on the balcony and changed back into Clark.

"You can show your mother the hammer, Jason," Clark said carefully. Jason looked up at him, reluctant. "It's okay."

Slowly, Jason unfolded his hands to reveal the metal 'grown-up' hammer he'd been using under carefull supervision. The head was bent almost as a ninety degree angle from the handle. Lois gaped, reaching out and taking the hammer so that she could examine it herself.

"But.. how...?" She looked at Jason's hands, examining him for injuries, then looked up at Clark and was surprised to see him smiling.

"It's okay, Lois," he assured her. "It used to happen all the time when I was a kid."

"You used to bend metal hammers out of shape?"

"Not on purpose."

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Jason said defensively. "I was just hitting the top of the nail like Mr. Matt's Dad showed me, and then I missed and it hit my hand instead. I thought it was going to hurt, but it didn't and I was confused... And then the hammer looked like that..."

"It's okay, Jason," Clark assured him quickly. "You're going to be like me, is all."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean things don't hurt me, us, like they hurt normal people," he said, crouching down to Jason's level and taking the hammer from Lois and bending it even further out of shape by striking his knee with it. Jason just stared at it and at Clark's undented knee. "When I started to not get hurt by things," he paused, trying to think of a way to explain it. "It didn't always work all the time, so you need to be careful. Sometimes things might hurt you, sometimes they might end up like this hammer."

"How will I know when I can get hurt and when I can't?"

"I don't know, Jason," Clark said sadly. "We just have to be careful."

Jason nodded, looking at the hammer again. Clark gripped it carefully, bending it easily back into shape and smiling at Jason. "We can just give this back to Matt at school Monday and they won't even know our secrets." Jason smiled at that, and the adults could see questions building up behind his eyes.

"What's that?" He asked, his smile faltering and his head twitching to the side at the same moment Clark's sensitive ears picked up the sound of a bank alarm going off.

"Bank robbery," Clark said, spinning on the spot, "I'll be right back," he promised before taking off from the balcony.

"No fair," Lois whispered under her breath as her son's father escaped the questions that began pouring out of Jason's mouth the moment he left.

Lois answered as best as she could, explaining that Clark was Superman and that Superman was his real Daddy; therefore Clark was his real Daddy. Surprisingly, Jason was overjoyed at the news.

"Can we see if he's on TV?" Jason asked after asking all the questions he could think of, most of which Lois had no idea how to answer. It wasn't that they were awkward questions; it was just that she didn't know why Superman wore red boots instead of green ones, or if he needed eye drops because of the wind when he flew.

"Sure," Lois said, thankful for a short break.

They channel surfed, finding Superman on the three prime news channels, each covering a different amazing feat. First, he'd stopped a notorious bank robber from robbing the Metropolis bank and turned him over to the police. Then, he'd appeared in China to save a group of nuns on vacation from being mugged. That odd story had been interrupted by an alert that, only seconds after he'd waved goodbye to the cameras in Shanghai, he'd been spotted in Yellowstone National park, keeping a couple of tourists from making some serious mistakes near the geysers.

"Wimp," Lois said under her breath as Superman continued to show up at various emergencies around the world, big and small. It was obvious he was taking as much time as possible, even taking on a few tasks that the police could've handled themselves.

Just seconds after he was seen saving a trio of beached dolphins in Hawaii, he was back in his living room. He didn't look tired, _exhilarated_ would almost describe him. Jason got a hungry look on his face, as though he wanted to be able to help people, and fly and feel as good as Clark looked like he was feeling just then. But the sight faded, and Superman spun on the spot and became regular Clark again, though Lois would never see him as 'regular Clark' ever again. At least he left the glasses off now; knowing he was wearing them when he didn't need them would've been too much.

"Is you costume itchy and that's why you don't wear it all the time? How did you learn how to fly? Do you ever need to use eye drops so your eyes don't hurt when you're flying? Why is your suit blue and yellow and red? Why not different colors, like green? Will you take me flying? Can we come with you to Hawaii next time? I like the dolphins. What's China like? Do you speak lots of different languages so you can help lots of different people? How come you work with Mommy when you're really Superman? Do you have a Mommy? What do clouds taste like? How do you hide your cape inside your shirt? Am I going to be just like you when I'm big? When will I be able to _really_ fly? Mommy said this has to be kept secret; do I have to keep this a secret? Can you read books without opening them because of your x-ray vision? What's your favorite movie? Do you watch movies? Can we fly kites above the clouds someday? What's your favorite color? Is it blue? I like blue. Mommy said you took her flying before I was born; did you really? Why do they call you Superman? Is that your real name? Or is your real name Clark? What am I supposed to call you? Does the Superman costume ever get itchy? How come…?" He stopped when Clark started laughing.

"And you thought you'd wait out the questions," Lois said, smiling as well. Jason looked between the two, confused.

"You certainly have a lot of questions," Clark sighed, flopping down onto the couch next to the pair of them. The tension was gone, Lois having forgotten her anger in the wake of all of Jason's questions.

"Did you get all of them, or should I go grab a notebook?" Lois asked. Clark just chuckled.

"Let's see, I'll tell you the answers to the ones I remember, and you can ask me the ones I forgot again, okay?"

"Okay," Jason said, settling onto his mother's lap, eager to hear the answers.

"Okay," Clark said, thinking back to the first question. "The costume is not itchy, but I can't wear it all the time or everybody would know who I am- I can't really go grocery shopping or to the park when I'm Superman, can I?" Jason shook his head, satisfied with the answer and waiting for the next one. "Figuring out how to fly is kind of a long story; I figured out I could jump really high and run really fast first. So, one day I was jumping around on the farm that I grew up on and I accidentally jumped onto the roof of our old barn and fell through. Instead of falling all the way to the ground I caught myself kind of like you did today, only I didn't get stuck," he smiled, glancing at Lois. She was paying as close attention to this as Jason was, knowing it was probably the only chance she'd have to hear stories like these. "I don't have to use eye drops because my eyes are built to stand up to the wind when I'm flying. I like green too, but blue and red and yellow just seemed like the right colors. I can take you flying anytime you want, but I don't think I should take you to Hawaii; somebody would get suspicious. China is very nice," he took a breath before continuing. "I _do_ speak lots of different languages because it would be difficult to keep the people I'm rescuing calm if they don't understand what I'm saying. I work at the _Daily Planet_ because it would be too tiring to be Superman all the time. I have two mothers and two fathers; both of my fathers are dead, though. One mother and one father died when the planet that I come from died," Jason started to ask, "You're from another planet?" but Clark held up a finger, nodding. "When I came here, my parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, were the ones that found me and took me to live in their house. My Dad died a few months after I finished high school, but my mother is still alive."

"Can I meet her?"

"Of course, she really wants to meet you," Clark said, pausing to try and remember the next question. "Clouds don't taste like anything, really. They're made of water so they're cold and wet, but they aren't solid enough to even taste like water. I don't hide my cape in my shirt; I roll it up and keep it in my pocket. For all I know, you _will_ be able to do all the special things that I can do when you're big enough; we just have to wait and see. I don't know how long it will be before you can fly safely, it will probably still be a couple of years. Like I said, I was twelve before the possibility even occurred to me. Yes, you do have to keep all of this a secret," he said sternly. "_Especially_ since your mother said so. Yes I can read books without opening them, but its not as much fun. I don't really have a favorite movie, but I get to watch a few now and then. It would be hard to fly kites above the clouds because that's where all the planes are and they'd be able to see us. I like blue too. I took your Mommy flying a couple of times before you were born. She was the one who called me Superman, but my parents from Krypton called me Kal-El, but everybody here knows me as Clark. So really, I have three real names, but most people I know call me Clark," he smiled. He wasn't sure what Jason was supposed to call him. He wanted Jason to call him 'Daddy," but that was probably asking too much. "What was the next one," he feigned forgetfulness despite the fact that he'd just answered every other question in order. "No, the blue suit doesn't ever get itchy; I'm too used to it."

"What am I supposed to call you?" Jason asked, not forgetting his question so easily. Clark glanced at Lois, though she looked as unsure as he was. "I called Richard 'Daddy,' but he wasn't my real Daddy. _You're_ my real Daddy, but I always call you Clark. And besides, you said all of this had to be a secret and so if I called you Daddy _or_ Superman somebody else might learn the secret," Jason said, looking at the adults carefully.

"Jason," Clark said carefully, thinking his answer through and glancing at Lois. "You can call me whatever you want when we're at home or there's nobody else around, but you might want to stick to 'Clark' when we're at work, okay?"

"Okay," Jason said, thinking.

"Can I call you Daddy?" Clark's chest felt like it might burst. Jason wanted to call him Daddy. He glanced at Lois; she seemed to be fighting emotions as well, though her face wasn't quite so easy to read.

"Of course," Clark said after a moment.

"Good," said Jason, crawling from his mother's lap to Clark's and wrapping his arms around his neck. "I'm glad you're my Daddy, I like you."

**A/N: Just so you know- I went back and changed chapter 2 so that the police officers don't know that Superman has a Mom. As so many of you told me, Superman would never be that irresponsible. Sorry if you liked that part, it just didn't have anything to do with anything else in the plot, and, once it was pointed out, it made sense to get rid of it. Thanks for reviewing!!!!**


	5. Chapter 5

- - - **Chapter Five**

The next few months passed in a blur.

For the first weeks the situation at Clark's apartment was awkward at best, especially after Jason had gone to bed. Eventually, though, Lois and Clark got over themselves. They let themselves move on, putting the past in the past and looking at the future. They both wanted what was best for Jason, and Jason was very happy exactly where he was. It helped that they also happened to still be desperately in love with each other, though they were too stubborn to admit it.

When they finally agreed to officially explore a romantic relationship, the entire world seemed to light up. Though they refrained from doing anything couple-y at the _Planet,_ they spent all their time together, and often wrote stories together much like they had before Clark had left. If anybody noticed a change they didn't say a word, but Clark was very good at keeping secrets.

Lois stopped looking for an apartment, and started looking for more homey things to decorate Clark's, now their, apartment with. That was the balcony came to have its first set of drapes, and how there came to be a pretty woven rug just inside the door. Clark liked those little changes, though he'd never say so. Jason settled in quickly, learning where the best places to play were and making use of them. He settled easily into his new life with Lois and Clark.

The three of them would get up and eat breakfast together. Sometimes Clark wasn't there, or he'd come in late or leave early, but mostly he was there in the mornings. After they were all ready, Clark would fly them within a few blocks of Jason's school and they would all walk him to the door. After goodbyes, Clark and Lois would turn down an alley and fly to the roof of the _Planet._ Lois would go inside and scope things out while Clark did a quick scan of the city for criminals, and then would pick up coffee or lunch, depending on how many criminals he found. It was easier this way, Clark found, because Lois was very good at coming up with believable excuses.

They worked on their articles, often hitting the streets to follow leads, giving Clark an even easier escape when he had to go save the day in Mongolia. Clark would go pick up Jason after the afternoon deadline; it was common knowledge in the office that the three of them were living together, but not that it was a permanent situation. Why wouldn't Clark go and pick Jason up from school? He was a nice guy, and Lois was usually working on her next front page article. Clark would bring Jason back to the bullpen with him and Jason would color at their desks or do his homework while he waited for them to finish. They'd all be home by about five-thirty, and Clark would do another scan of the city while Lois made dinner. After dinner, he'd take Jason out flying or to practice using his developing powers, mostly strength, in the shadows, unless of course the world needed saving.

"No desperate situations out there tonight?" Lois asked one night almost four months after they'd decided to have a relationship. They were sitting on the couch, the TV off, and Jason in bed.

"Nothing that they need Superman for," Clark said quietly, kissing the soft spot under her ear. There was always something going wrong somewhere, but he wasn't the only one capable of bringing criminals to justice, he was just a lot more efficient.

"Well, I know what Superman is needed for," Lois said, smirking. Clark smiled as well; he truly loved his life now. He spun her around on his lap, capturing her mouth with his own.

Clark lifted them off the couch, flying in this horizontal position over to the light switch so he could turn the lights off before they floated into the bedroom they now shared. Lois smiled when he spun them around and she found herself on the bed instead of the couch; she hadn't even noticed they'd been moving.

"I love you," she murmured.

"I love you, too," Clark said before they were both lost to their passion.

Clark woke many hours later for no apparent reason. He was still tangled in the sheets with Lois; she was lying mostly on top of them with their legs twined together in a mess below the sheets. He had his arms around her, and she had both her arms up around his neck, she'd been playing with his hair when they fell asleep. He did a quick inventory of the apartment, trying to figure out what woke him. Jason's heartbeat and breathing were normal for that of a sleeping boy in the next room, neither he nor Lois were hurt, far from it actually, the doors were locked, the windows were closed… he extended his search out into Metropolis, looking for any reason for him to be awake.

And then he sensed it. There was no telling where it came from, how it had gotten to where it was, but now it was there. There was kryptonite in the alley under his window. There wasn't much, but there was some. It couldn't stay there, and he couldn't go get rid of it. "Lois," he said softly, brushing hair from her face to try and wake her. "Lois?"

"Hmm?" She sighed contentedly, burrowing deeper into his chest. Any other morning he would've been happy to lay there with her, but today wasn't any other day. He shook her shoulder, feeling the kryptonite sapping at his strength even from such a distance. Another thought flashed through his brain, Jason. Jason in the next room who was much smaller and just as affected by kryptonite.

"Lois!" She woke up, startling and looking blearily at him.

"What?" She said grumpily. "If you've got to pee just get up and pee…" she still wasn't truly awake.

"Lois, kryptonite," he said. How much kryptonite was in the alley? His fingers and toes were tingling from it.

"What?"

"Kryptonite."

"Where?"

"In the alley, somewhere close… Jason…?" Lois was out of bed in a flash. She grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be one of Clark's dress shirts, and buttoned it quickly. Finding her panties underneath the shirt, she put them on too, but then jogged into Jason's room to check on the boy.

"He's still asleep, but his breathing's really shallow," she told him.

"You have to get rid of the kryptonite," Clark told her. His fingers and toes were completely numb now, and he had pins and needles in all of his joints.

Clark was not feeling good at all. He could hear Jason in the other room, his breathing ragged. Clark's own breath patterns were quickly approaching a similar rate, but he had more body mass for the radiation to absorb into; it would take longer for him to feel the effects, and longer for him to heal from them. He couldn't hear Lois anymore, but he'd heard her close the door and he'd heard her enter the alley. If anything had happened in the alley Clark wouldn't know about it. He felt a wave of guilt for not being able to help.

Slowly, Clark pushed himself up, cursing the fire in his joints. He made it to the window and pushed the curtains aside, searching the alley for Lois. Then there she was, darting from trash heap to trash heap in his overlarge shirt. If she wasn't noticeable, nothing was. Normally it would've been incredibly stimulating to see Lois only wearing his shirt, but not when she was in an alley four stories below searching for the one thing that could kill him.

His world got fuzzier. He must've passed out because the next time he looked, Lois was gone. He panicked and only managed to stand upright for a second before falling backwards. He landed partially on the bed, partially not, falling somewhere in between in a crumpled pose that nobody could've expected the Man of Steel to ever assume.

Lois made it up the stairs less than ten minutes after she'd made it down them. She was breathless and cursing herself for grabbing the shirt. She was glad she had because it was so warm, but there was also the fact that it was way too big and it billowed around her when she moved, making her a little self-conscious out of Clark's bedroom. She'd grabbed Clark's shoes too.

She'd found the kryptonite after a few minutes, but then had been indecisive about how to get rid of it. There was so much; a cardboard box full of it sitting directly below their windows in the alley. In the end, she threw it in the sewer, unloading it piece by piece. She'd barreled up the steps, nearly killing Clark's landlady, and burst into her son's room. Jason had slept through the entire experience. Though he was looking a little worse for wear, he looked like he would be okay. He had dark circles under his eyes, his skin shimmered with sweat, but he was breathing fine and his pulse was normal so far as she could tell.

She wanted to cry when she entered the bedroom she shared with Clark. Clark had been closer to the kryptonite, and his going to the window hadn't helped either. He had been too preoccupied to put on clothes, and now he lay naked slumped against the bed and the nightstand. He was unconscious. He looked uncomfortable, so Lois stretched him out on the floor, not even wanting to try to pull him onto the bed. She lay his cape over him, covering his nudity, and put a pair of her jeans on. She assumed a position on the bed, walking in to check on Jason every couple of minutes; waiting for one of them to wake up.

_What if I didn't get all the kryptonite? _She wondered. But Clark was stirring, so of course she had gotten all of it, right?

Clark woke up a moment later, if just a little bit. "Lois?" He asked groggily.

"I'm here," she assured him, crouching down next to him.

"Why am I on the floor?" He asked. Lois didn't say anything, just helped him back onto the bed and pulled the covers up.

"The kryptonite's gone now… you just rest now…" her voice was unbelievably tense.

"Jason…?" Clark said, but he was in no shape to do anything other than to rest.

Lois spent the rest of the day pacing between the two rooms, waiting for one of them to wake up. Remembering what Superman had once said about sunlight, she opened all the windows in the house, even going so far as to bring Jason, the one of them that she could lift, to the living room couch where the sunlight was coming through the balcony door.

"Mommy?" Jason asked a few minutes later, disoriented and looking sick.

"I'm here, honey," she said, moving closer.

"I don't feel good."

"I know, honey," she said, brushing the hair off his face gently. "You'll feel better soon, just go back to sleep."

"But I'm not tired anymore."

"You'll get better faster if you sleep," she said, hoping it was the truth; Clark still hadn't stirred.

When she went back into the bedroom she shared with Clark, he was gone. She hoped that was a good sign. She couldn't really do anything if it wasn't. Sighing, she returned to the living room where her son was watching cartoons. She had called him in sick to school already, telling the nurse that he had the flu, then she'd called the _Daily Planet_ to tell them that neither she nor Clark would be in. Perry wasn't happy, but he knew that Lois wouldn't call in unless they were really sick.

Clark appeared a half an hour later. He looked like nothing had happened. He was wearing jeans and another plain white shirt, the sleeves rolled up and the collar slightly open. He looked so normal, so hot; it took Lois' breath away.

"You okay?" He asked, noticing the change in her breathing.

"I'm fine, how're you feeling?" She asked, shaking off her momentary distraction and proceeding to look Clark over for any signs of weakness, of course, that only brought that weakness in the knees back full force.

"I'm better," Clark said, his face clouding. "I searched the city for more kryptonite," he said in a hushed voice so Jason wouldn't hear. "I couldn't find any other than those warehouses we already knew about."

"That's good."

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"I'd almost rather find some and be able to get rid of it, than have it randomly show up sometime."

They were both silent. Lois watched Jason until he noticed and glared at her.

The rest of the day passed easily. Jason was shaky all day, staying in his pajamas and watching cartoons for the most part. Clark wouldn't show it, but Lois could tell he wasn't feeling quite himself either. They spent most of the day sitting on the other end of the couch from Jason and switching their gaze from the TV, to their son, and back.

"What're you looking at?" Jason finally asked, deserting the TV for his crazy parents.

"You," Lois said casually.

"Stop it," Jason instructed. Lois laughed and settled into Clark's chest more securely. It was odd how her life worked. She'd gone from extremely angry with Clark in the past months, to making the most amazing love she'd ever made with him, to sitting and watching their son complain that they were watching him. Sometimes it seemed so normal, but then she would remember that the reason they were all home for the day was because the two men in her life got sick whenever they were exposed to rocks from a different planet; that was something she'd never quite wrap her brain around.

Right after dinner, Clark took Jason up above the clouds to see the sun. When they came back, they were both practically glowing. Jason was bouncing off the walls, telling Mom about how big the sun looked from up there, and how little the town looked. The sun-high quickly wore off, though, and Jason was able to go to bed at his normal time, leaving Lois to sit on the couch and watch Clark rescue people on TV until he came back to her.

More kryptonite showed up as the week wore on, but none so close to home. Superman had to try and help from a distance on a few rescues because of its presence. He would use his x-ray vision to tell the firefighters where it would work best to start, or where a person was trapped; he felt guilty that he couldn't just rush in and get them himself. He would come home frustrated, usually overwhelmed by guilt if somebody even got hurt. Lois tried her best to console him about this, but he didn't want consolation, he wanted to get rid of the kryptonite.

It became really serious when the police reported that they'd found a lead-lined warehouse full with crate upon crate of kryptonite shards. Lois promised Perry a great story on the kryptonite, and dragged Clark around the city to figure out what was going on.

It was raining, pouring actually. It had been all afternoon. The traffic was slow and all the drivers were ornery.

"You don't have to come check out the warehouse with me, you know," Lois said softly, noticing the sweat on Clark's forehead as they got closer to their destination.

"This doesn't make sense," Clark said, almost a whisper so the cab driver wouldn't hear them. Lois raised an eyebrow to encourage him to elaborate. "I shouldn't feel like… _this_ so far from the warehouse."

"Hey, you're Lois Lane, right?" The cab driver asked out of the blue. All he'd done when they'd gotten in was scowl at them and waited for their destination.

"Yes," Lois said, trying not to encourage more conversation.

"So, you know how to contact Superman, right?"

"What? Why?" Lois asked, startled. She glanced at Clark, he looked interested, but not as interested as he would normally be.

"I was thinking he could come blow this storm away," the driver said, smiling at her in the mirror as though he'd just had the idea of the century. Lois debated whether to just glare at him, or come up with something witty to say. The driver seemed to move on though, starting to yell at the driver in front of him in fast Spanish.

"Are you saying there's some nearby?" Clark nodded. "How do you feel?" She asked nervously after a few blocks had passed and Clark only seemed to get worse.

"Like I got hit by a train… no, um… not good," he shrugged and then wished he hadn't. Lois smiled at his reference to the train, he was probably the only one who could use it and mean it, but then frowned when he slumped slightly to the side.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" She asked softly.

"No," he paused. "I should probably go, you know…" he made a vague gesture upwards. Lois nodded, and Clark got out the next time the taxi stopped. The driver complained loudly until he realized that Lois was still inside and would be paying. Clark stumbled into the closest alley and changed into Superman, taking off and heading above the clouds to get some much needed sunshine.

Lois interviewed all the right people on the mysterious warehouse without Clark. Of course, she could feel Superman's eyes on the top of her head the entire time she was asking the police and owners questions. She was about to hail another cab when she felt a rush of air and her feet left the ground.

"Clark!" She cried out, surprised. "But, I thought…?"

"We need to get to Jason," he said. He was covered in a glimmering sheet of sweat and rain. It would've been sexy if he hadn't looked to be in so much discomfort.

"What's wrong with Jason?" She asked, ignoring her own discomfort; Clark had grabbed her under the armpits instead of his usual almost intimate, much more comfortable hold, and the raindrops were whipped into their faces by the wind.

"There was kryptonite on the playground at his school, his teacher will be calling in a moment to tell you to come and get him," her cell phone rang just as he finished the sentence.

"Hello?" Lois asked nervously after digging the phone out of her purse while trying not to drop anything. "Mrs. Patterson, what's the matter? Is he okay? I'll be there in a few seconds… no, I'm just interviewing- somebody who can get me there quickly," she would've smiled at Clark, but Mrs. Patterson had just told her that Jason had passed out during recess and was only just coming around. Clark had heard, of course, and they sped up.

Superman landing in the playground with Jason's Mommy did nothing to help the poor teachers control their charges. "Superman!" The crowd of first graders squealed. The teachers looked equally excited, but they didn't gather around.

Clark put Lois on the ground and prepared to take off again, but found that he couldn't. Lois was focused on one thing, the door to Jason's school, and she had an iron grip on his hand, her fingers entwined with his. Clark wasn't sure what to do, he beat down a blush when he noticed the teachers watching, and followed Lois into the school. He could feel the kryptonite nearby and it was making him woozy. He leaned on Lois and she immediately knew what was going on, and pulled him faster towards the school.

"Not you too," she muttered, practically dragging him up the steps by his hand she still held, and the shoulder where she had grabbed to support him.

"Of course me too," Clark returned with a weak smile.

Mrs. Patterson's eyes were a big as the moon when Lois and Superman entered the room. She was still standing by the phone, having just put it back on the hook. Then, of course, there was the fact that it looked like Superman and Lois were a couple, only until Superman collapsed, though.

"Kal-El!" She cried, bracing against him to keep him from falling all the way to the floor.

"Superman?" Jason whispered just loud enough for the pair on the floor to hear him. Jason was still too woozy to move, but Superman's bout had passed, and he crossed the room and took his son on his lap.

Lois glanced from the pair on the chair, to Mrs. Patterson and back nervously. Clark looked at her imploringly; his eyes weren't as clear as they usually were and she immediately remembered the kryptonite. "Where is it?" She asked quietly. Clark closed his eyes for a second before pointing out the window. Lois ran out of the school and began searching the area of the playground he'd indicated.

The piece she found was bigger than the largest shards she'd found in the box in the alley, almost the length of her forearm and twice as thick. It was just lying on the ground in the middle of the playground. She took the kryptonite and threw it in the closest sewer, hearing it break to bits in the pipes below with satisfaction.

All of the kids were trying to get back in the school to see Superman, but Lois barely noticed. She brushed past kids she'd had visit her house for a play-date before, making sure the curtains were closed as she passed through the door. Clark and Jason were sitting in the same spot, but Jason was smiling and Clark looked more relaxed. Mrs. Patterson was rooted to the spot, her face written with complete shock: Superman was sitting in her classroom holding one of her students on his lap to comfort him.

Ignoring Mrs. Patterson in the same way that she'd ignored the other students, Lois took the seat next to Clark and felt Jason's forehead. "How're you feeling, sweetheart? Better?"

"I'm fine, Mommy," Jason said, leaning back so she would move her hand.

"What about you?" Lois said, quieter. Clark just shook his head to indicate that his was alright.

"Is the kryptonite gone, Mommy? Can I go out and play again?" Mrs. Patterson watched, shocked, when Lois replied to the question like she heard it every day.

"No, honey, Superman's going to take us home."

"Okay, bye Mrs. Patterson!" Jason wrapped his arms around his father's neck with a smile.

Before they left, Lois turned to Mrs. Patterson, searching the corners of her brain for some sort of explanation. "Ever since that... incident a few months ago on Luthor's boat... when we were so close to New Krypton and all that kryptonite," Lois started, hoping the woman would buy it. "Jason's been weirdly sensative to the stuff. We can't explain it," she shook her head, glancing at Clark for back up. He just nodded solemnly.

"It doesn't make any sense."

After Superman had confirmed it, Mrs. Patterson didn't feel like arguing.

"I'll, um, see you at conferences," Lois said, flipping the latch on the window and pushing it open before wrapping her arms around Clark's torso. Clark just gripped Lois' waist and put a hand on Jason's back before floating off the floor and out into the rain.

Mrs. Patterson sat in her chair for a full ten minutes before she closed the window and let the rest of the school in.

The three of them spent the rest of the day at home. Lois insisted that Jason stay inside, though she didn't put him on the usual at home sick schedule. She spent most of the afternoon filling Clark in on the kryptonite in the warehouse. If anything, it made them both even more nervous.

"Where did it all come from?" Clark asked, flipping the channel to a different news station for a different version of the same information.

"Nobody knows; the owner of the warehouse said it was on schedule for demolition because of the lead in the walls… updating everything. They said something about building an apartment complex in its place, but…" Clark just nodded.

- - -

The rest of the week passed like that. Leads would show up, but they would only lead to huge stockpiles of kryptonite that appeared out of nowhere in buildings that didn't officially exist.


	6. Chapter 6

**There _is_ a reason why the kryptonite is affecting them both more than usual, but it'll be a few chapters before it really makes sense. Patience, if you please.**

- - - **Chapter Six**

Clark proposed on Jason's sixth birthday. He was a nervous wreck all day, but Lois just assumed he was worried about kryptonite popping up and ruining Jason's birthday. They had a little party, Jason's friends came over and played for a few hours and ate birthday cake. He got all manner of things, and most of it was Superman merchandise. His friends were obsessed with him ever since he'd visited their school, and Jason certainly liked him too. By the end of the day, Jason had a Superman t-shirt, pajamas with a cape, a Superman bath towel, a number of action figures, and the Superman version of Monopoly.

"This is just weird," Clark said after they'd all left. He picked up one of the action figures and pushed the button on its stomach that made it flex its muscles. "I don't _flex_ like that," he said, showing Lois the doll.

"Well, maybe the world wishes you would," Lois said with a smile, putting the birthday cake away.

"Look Mom, Dad!" Jason said, running out of his bedroom in the Superman pajamas. They were a child-size re-creation of the suite Clark wore every day only in softer fabric.

"Don't let that cape choke you while you're sleeping," Lois remarked, watching her son zoom around the house.

"Do you ever choke on your cape, Daddy?" Jason asked, stopping the zooming long enough to hear the answer.

"Not really," Clark shrugged.

"Then I won't choke either, don't worry Mommy," he jumped off the couch.

"Be _careful,_ Jason!" But Jason just zoomed away, back into his bedroom where they could hear him jumping on the bed. "Don't jump on the bed, you'll break it!" She reminded him. They could hear Jason groan and get off the bed, and start running around the room swishing the cape.

After Jason was in bed, the cape safely draped over a chair, Lois sat on the couch and watched Clark being heroic on TV like she did every night. At first, his not being there had made her lonely, but then she'd started to think about it, and decided she really liked the fact that _Superman_ was on his way back to _her_ after he was done on the news.

"Do you want to go flying with me tonight?" Clark asked from the balcony, startling her. The news had just come back from a commercial break and they were saying that he was taking care of an avalanche in the Appalachians. Of course, the commercials put them a few minutes behind real time, and Clark had a habit of traveling faster than sound.

"What about Jason?" She asked, turning off the TV and joining him on the balcony. He was still wearing his suit and, for the first time that day, she noticed how truly nervous he looked.

"He'll be okay; I can keep an ear out for him."

"Let's go, then," Lois smiled. They didn't go flying nearly as often as one would think, and it was truly exhilarating.

"I can't believe Jason is already six," Lois said to fill the silence a few minutes later. They were flying over the ocean, the great blueness of it melting into the purpley blackness of the horizon.

Superman just nodded, his eyes clouded with something Lois couldn't quite pick out. "At least I got to come to this birthday party," he said after another moment. Lois held onto him tighter.

"He's glad you're here too… I don't know what we'd do without you," Clark kissed her forehead and then they both turned to watch a small city appear on a coast. "Where are we?"

"We're coming up on the Norwegian fjords."

"Norway?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because it's a beautiful place to see from the sky," he said softly. Lois didn't say anything, training her eyes on the landscape below. He was right, it was beautiful. They stayed away from the cities, hugging the tall wooded mountain peaks.

"Beautiful," Lois said under her breath. They just hung in the air over the mountain, enjoying the view. Clark had never taken her places like this; he'd taken her past the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids in Egypt: the wonders of the world. He'd never taken her to see mountains or rivers. She decided she liked the mountains better.

"Yes, it is," Clark said, but he was looking at her. She blushed. "Lois," he said after a minute of hovering.

"Hmm?" She asked, finally turning to look at him after taking in the beauty below.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you …" he trailed off, looking nervous again.

"Clark?"

"I love you so much, Lois," he started. "And I can't imagine ever spending another moment of my life without you there with me… And… Lois- will you marry me?" He held up a little velvet covered box and opened it to reveal a platinum band with two small, square diamonds set on either side of a circular sapphire.

Lois inhaled quickly, looking from the ring in the box to Clark and back. _There's why he was so nervous all day._ "Clark," she started, her voice full of happiness and excitement. "There's nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life with you, of course I'll marry you!"

Clark smiled broadly, breathing for what felt like the first time all day. He leaned down and kissed her with tenderness that quickly became uncontrollable passion. She returned the kiss with equal eagerness. Somehow Clark managed to keep them afloat, and get the ring on the appropriate finger without breaking the kiss.

"I love you," Lois whispered, breaking away from his lips to concentrate on his neck. Her hands were already roaming freely across his back.

"I love you," Clark whispered back. He still had to hang onto her so his hands couldn't go where they wanted to, but he had a hand in her hair and another dangerously low on her waist, sending heat to her core.

"Clark," she moaned a moment later, "you'd better get me home right now unless you want to join the mile high club in a way only you can…"

Smiling, Clark wrapped her in his cape and they rocketed back across the ocean, arriving at the apartment in half the time it had taken them to leave. They were still joined at the mouth when they flew in through their window, Jason was sleeping soundly in his room, and the world wasn't even threatening to explode. That night was more perfect than any night they'd spent together.

- - -

Of course, the first thing the office noticed was that Lois was wearing a new engagement ring. Gossip spread like the Plague. Susan in Accounting noticed it first and told Georgiana from PR when they met at the coffee maker, and if Georgiana knows something interesting, the rest of the _Planet_ knows about it by lunch.

Surprisingly enough, Clark wasn't in the running for potential fiancés. His name was mentioned a few times, but they maintained their distance as usual; it was assumed that if they were a couple they would've given at least a few public displays of affection like Lois and Richard had when they were together. So their coworkers started guessing. Any man that came in for an interview with Lois, or was seen with her in the streets was a target of the gossip. Of course, nobody asked any of the parties in question about the engagement—that would be too simple.

The third day after the ring had appeared, somebody had to imagination to ask Jason who his Mommy was engaged to. Jason, playing with his Superman doll, had responded that Lois was engaged to his Daddy. Everybody assumed that meant Richard.

"Did you hear they're back together?" A woman was asking a man over at the copy machine.

"Yeah… I didn't even know he was back in town."

"Me neither."

"Does that mean she's moving out of Kent's apartment? That was always a weird match, if you ask me…" Clark tried to drown the voices out, but it didn't work. _Everybody_ at the_ Planet_ was talking about it. At first, he'd found it funny. He was engaged to Lois Lane and nobody suspected a thing. He was engaged to Lois Lane. That was what stuck.

The gossip around the water cooler, or coffee maker in this case, only got worse when Richard actually _did_ show up.

He wouldn't look at Lois. He gave a polite hello to Clark and Jimmy when he passed them waiting for the elevator, but that was it. He marched into Perry's office and talked to his uncle for almost an hour and a half. Lois watched from her desk, her hands hovering above her keyboard. Richard didn't even look in her direction. She wasn't able to think again until she looked down and saw Clark's ring on her finger.

"You okay?" Clark asked, making her jump. The last she had seen, he had been heading off with Jimmy to interview somebody on the discovery of another building full of kryptonite. The interview would be taking place several blocks away, of course, and Jimmy would go alone to get the pictures while Clark talked to the landlord.

"Why's he here?" She asked, not looking at Clark. Clark tipped his head slightly, getting his ear a little closer to the glass doors of Perry's office.

"He wants Perry to print an article his paper in California ran almost a month ago. It's… very negative towards Superman," he paused listening to the conversation. "Perry doesn't want to publish it because Superman has been so good to the _Planet_ so far as interviews go and he doesn't want to alienate him, me, whatever."

"You know, everybody thinks he and I are engaged again," Lois said after a second.

"Yeah."

"Jason told them that I was engaged to his father."

"And you are."

"But everybody thinks Richard's his father."

"Lois… they can't know that Superman's… you know."

"I know. I just don't like secrets like that, especially for Jason…"

"I don't like secrets either, but they're my life."

"Our life," she corrected.

"Our life," Clark agreed, and for the first time in public, he kissed her.

It was quick and simple. The only one who noticed was Jason, who Clark had picked up from school on his way back from the interview.

"C'mon, guys!" Jason complained quietly from his chair next to Lois' desk. They smiled at him, and Clark meandered over to his own desk. Lois stared at him for another minute; he looked back at her with a smile before writing up the interview. Still smiling, Lois glanced at her ring again before continuing with her story.

The office cleared out as the day wore on. Clark had left to 'try and get an interview with Superman about the kryptonite' when he'd heard some cries for help not to far from the _Planet_. Lois was still at her desk, her distracted mind making it difficult to finish her next article. Jason, as always, was content to sit and draw at Clark's desk while he waited for his Mom to finish or for his Dad to come back and make her be done for the night. The only other people in the office were Perry, Jimmy, and Richard. Richard was sitting in Perry's office with his laptop out, fine-tuning the article he was trying to get Perry to publish. He was making it easier on Superman, but the message was still there.

Jimmy came over to Lois' desk, curious in his own right about the ring on her finger but not curious enough to ask her about it. "So how's life, Lois?" He finally asked.

"Life's pretty good, Jimmy. How're you doing?"

"I'm all right."

"That's good."

"Yeah… You just waiting for Clark to get back, then?"

"Yeah, and trying to finish up this article."

"Where did he go anyways?" Jimmy asked. "He looks tired lately, like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders."

"Yeah, it's been a tough week," Lois said with a sigh. It was the truth, the kryptonite had him worried and it was sapping at his strength even from a distance. Jason was always tired too, but he wasn't the one flying around the world and trying to save people only to come home to the nagging presence of the substance that could kill him. Jimmy seemed to assume that she was talking about her engagement to another man and changed the subject.

"So, what're you working on?"

"It's that article about the…" she trailed off when Perry interrupted.

"JIMMY! MY OFFICE! NOW!"

"Sorry," Jimmy said, rushing off to Perry's office.

Richard stormed out a few minutes later, laptop under his arm and a grumpy look on his face. Obviously, he hadn't gotten what he wanted. His mood only got surlier when he stopped halfway across the room to watch the TV screen.

It was Superman.

He was in the park, very close, actually, to the place where he'd fallen after lifting New Krypton into the skies. There was a new crater in the park and it was filled by the same lump of lead that had fallen into the Nile all those months ago.

Clark was about to throw the thing into space again when it split down the middle. The two halves fell away from each other, landing awkwardly against the sides of the crater it had created. The inside was filled with blue light. A flat platform was at the center, hovering in place; it was as wide as the widest end of the pear-shaped rock, and it was radiating the strange blue light that was filling the park. People weren't sure whether they wanted to back away to a safer distance, or get closer to get a better look.

The blue platform was what immediately grabbed the crowd's attention, but it was the people standing on the platform that had Clark staring. Four people stood nonchalantly at the center looking as though they'd just woken up only without the bed-head.

"You make it very difficult to make contact if you interrupt our landing procedures by throwing us back into space," the tallest man complained. They looked like normal men, four men in simple black attire and shiny boots, pale, grayish almost from lack of sun during space travel, or maybe that's the way their skin normally was. The tallest one was almost six feet and had white hair with gray streaks, and a very pointy nose. The other three were a full head shorter, barely over five feet, and were completely bald. They reminded him of Lex Luthor in a shorter, more alien way.

"Um," Clark said, reaching up to scratch his head uncomfortably. He wasn't sure if he should apologize or not.

"It is no matter, however, we are a persistent people, we will bring our message to you," the tall one said. Before he had even finished the last word, the three short ones had drawn strange looking weapons made of glass, each firing a shot at Superman's chest.

The combined blasts were enough to send even Superman flying out of frame on the TV screen. Lois was on her feet and within a few feet of the screen within seconds, Jason woke up in his chair as though he could hear the sparks flying off his father's chest right next to him, and Jimmy and Perry rushed out of the office for a better view of the TV. Richard looked like he wanted to dismiss the happenings and march grumpily to the elevator, but even he was too interested to just walk away. Lois didn't relax until the camera panned over to show Clark emerging from a now crumpled grove of trees, picking leaves and bark out of his hair.

"Impossible… we studied the biology of this world… impossible," the tall one said, raising his own glass weapon and fired at a passing civilian. True to his essence, Clark closed the gap in a hurry, still not revealing that he could fly, and took the hit. Even the single blast was enough to set him off balance, and he flew backwards, knocking the poor man down and landing just past him.

"You okay?" He asked, helping the man to his feet. The guy nodded silently and walked backwards a few paces, suddenly a lot more eager for distance and safety than getting a good look at the newcomers.

"Who _are_ you?" The tall one asked again, firing a few shots at him for good measure and sending him flying back towards that poor grove of trees.

"Who are _you_?" Clark countered.

"We are the Kings of the Twenty-Eighth Planet," the tall one said as though it was something everybody should know and be afraid of. Clark searched his mind, remembering all the things his father had told him about the other known galaxies. "And you?"

"Kal-El of Krypton," Clark said, watching them for a reaction. All four of their faces flashed with fear and then with rage.

"There were no survivors," one of the bald ones hissed.

"He _does_ where the crest of the House of El…" another one whispered loud enough for the crowd to hear.

"Who was your father?" The tall one asked. Clark didn't answer, still trying to remember who the Kings of the Twenty-Eighth Planet were.

"Faera," he said suddenly, remembering the name of the star. "The Twenty-Eighth Planet orbits the star Faera," he paused glancing at the newcomers. "The Kings of the Twenty-Eighth Planet had a penchant for intergalactic domination attempts, if I remember correctly… Usually through blackmail and bribery of planetary leadership…" he could hear his father's voice telling him about the men who called themselves the Kings of the Twenty-Eighth Planet, even though the planet they came from was actually called Linir and was the closest planet to Krypton with intelligent life. Most Linirans were pleasant enough and the two planets had a good trade history, especially scientific technology, but Linir had an unstable government and the faction that called themselves the Kings made life hard on the planet. By the time Krypton was destroyed most Linirans had left or were looking for a way to leave. "Linir, that's what it's called."

"You've been out of circulation too long, _Lord El,"_ he spat the name as though it were the filth stuck on the bottom of his lead-encrusted space ship. Clark only raised an eyebrow at the supposed insult.

"What do you want with Earth?" Clark asked, glancing around. The crowd had the good sense to back off, leaving Superman standing alone in front of his grove of trees facing the pair of craters and the four angry, short men.

"Earth. All of it," the tall one said simply. "It will be an added bonus to have killed the son of Jor-El, the last son of Krypton."

"That's just great," Clark mumbled to himself.

Lois watched with horror as one of the bald 'Kings' manipulated something with his foot and the blue platform began to move, hovering above the earth towards Clark. It was a strange, unnatural sort of hovering, nothing like the simple floating grace of Superman. The platform picked up speed, shooting past Clark, making him duck, and off towards the downtown area. Clark launched himself after them, grabbing onto the platform and pulling down hard. Two of the bald 'Kings' fell off, and the other two lost their balance. The remaining pair looked down and the microphones in the park picked up the bald one saying, "Impossible!"

Lois fell back into her chair as she watched what was happening in the park. Jason crawled into her lap, eyes glued to the screen. "Is Daddy going to win?" He asked; Jimmy and Perry must have heard him because they both managed to turn from the screen to look at the pair of them.

"He'll be okay, honey," Lois said. That response was enough to send Jimmy and Perry into shock, they both turned to look at Richard. He seemed to have decided he'd rather leave than watch the goings on in the park, and was punching the down button on the elevator so hard Perry was worried he'd have to call maintenance to get the button fixed.

Superman flew away from the platform, leaving it still wobbling and unbalanced. He flew down to the place where the two bald 'Kings' that had fallen were stumbling to their feet and beginning to take aim at the gathered crowd. The camera took a second to catch up with him, but when it came into focus, he had disarmed them, and put the pair of them inside the lead shell. The crater that had formed would be difficult to climb out of at best, and the shell wasn't placed well enough for them to use it to climb out.

The view on the TV screen switched to show the blue platform, now stable again, zooming off towards the skyline. Superman shot into view, chasing after the platform faster than a speeding bullet. Again, the screen changed; the camera focused on the two aliens trapped inside the crater.

"You're just as bad as your father!" They shouted, trying to draw him back, maybe get him to make a mistake that they could use to get out of the hole. "Pompous, egotistical, Kryptonians the lot! Your planet deserved to explode!"

There were general murmurs of disagreement and righteous anger coming from the crowd when the view switched to a helicopter's view of the damage of the park. The news anchor did a voiceover, telling the TV audience that the park had only recently been reopened after Superman's previous crash. The helicopter zoomed out and panned around to show where Superman was now. Even zoomed in, the glowing platform and the three figures near it were difficult to make out. The two men on top of the platform in black were shooting their glass guns at the blue and red blur that was darting around them, trying to get a good hold on the platform to bring them down.

The shots that missed Superman continued until they hit something, seemingly unaffected by gravity. Most were hitting the surrounding office buildings, but a few made it all the way down to the sidewalks, leaving smaller versions of the craters in the park, and sending concrete flying everywhere. People caught on pretty fast, and backed away from nearby windows and got off the streets. One shot flew straight back and narrowly missed the helicopter filming the incident. A second flew straight back and hit the helicopter filming the incident.

The picture on the television went blurry with motion, but whoever was running the feed didn't have the sense to switch it off. The microphone on the camera picked up the pilot's panicked calls of "Mayday!" and other calls into the radio along with more than a few words that would've been bleeped out if it weren't live television, and if the bleeper-person wasn't in just as much shock as everybody else watching.

Superman caught the helicopter with about twenty feet before it hit. The image on the TV screen seemed frozen as Superman halted the movement completely before setting it on the ground. The picture was shaky, but Lois breathed a sigh of relief. Clark was holding onto the helicopter just right so that he was fully in the frame of the camera, looking as perfectly healthy as ever.

"See, he's okay," Lois whispered to her son, who nodded, eyes glued to the screen.

As soon as he'd set the helicopter firmly on the ground, he went face first into the camera lens, red light silhouetting him for a brief moment before he was too close to the camera to be seen.

Superman backed away from the helicopter after getting gracefully to his feet. Lois would've chuckled at how un-Clark-like the motion was if she wasn't so worried about him; this was the worst threat he'd faced since she'd learned who he was. Clark's back was to the camera, but she could tell that he was doing _something_. After a moment, he moved slightly to the side and the camera could see that he was carrying the remaining two aliens back towards the lead capsule. They were struggling, and the tall one was yelling empty threats and insults, mostly about Jor-El and Lara, at the top of his lungs.

Clark walked steadily over to the broken lead pod and tossed the pair of struggling 'Kings' on top of the other two, who had stopped shouting and were looking at him menacingly. Clark didn't feel threatened by the menacing looks until he saw the glint of green stone daggers in their hands. Daggers made of kryptonite. He felt his knees take on some of the less endearing properties of jello at the thought, but forced his way past it.

Moving quickly, he shot into the crater and flipped the two halves of the lead pod together. The men inside yelled and shouted, and generally made noise. He began to seal it using heat vision from a safe distance, but, to his surprise, they managed to shift the top half away. The tall one was holding onto something that looked like a glass missile launcher. At the bottom he could see that they had loaded a kryptonite dagger into it; one of the bald ones was working on closing up the launcher so that it could be fired.

Fear filled him again, and again he forced his way past it. Maybe he was just being stupid, but he flew down closer again to close the gap so that he could seal the pod. Suddenly pain tore through his body. The scar on his back, the mark Lex Luthor had left on him, felt like it had reopened. The dagger had hit him between two of his lower ribs on his left side, and had buried itself in deep. He felt the air rush out of his lungs, but for the moment it was only the pain of having something sharp wedged between two ribs; whatever the handle of the dagger was made out of was counteracting the kryptonite well enough, for the moment, so that he could still function.

The men in black in the pod looked triumphant; of course they were almost completely sealed in a lead pod that was deep enough in a crater so that even if they did manage to escape the pod, they'd still be stuck in the crater. Clark took a few wheezing breaths before flying up over them and finishing the job of sealing them in. It took more energy than it ever had before to use heat vision and he felt himself sinking closer to the ground as he continued.

"He's breathing like Darth Vadar," Jason commented in his mother's lap even though the microphones that had been on the helicopter were only playing static.

"We have to go to the park," Lois said, grabbing her coat more out of habit than necessity, and running off towards the parking garage before she realized her car wasn't there; Clark had been flying them to and from everywhere to save on gas money. She realized this as they were waiting for the elevator. "Perry, can you give us a ride to the park?" Lois asked, her voice shaking. The last thing she wanted to do right now was hale a cab.

"Sure," Perry said, walking slowly over to her, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"I'm coming too!" Jimmy said, running and jumping onto the elevator just as the doors were beginning to close.

The trip to the parking garage level was silent. Lois stood there holding Jason's hand and worrying. There was kryptonite in her fiancé and she had to get there to help him. Jason was staring hard at the wall, concentrating hard, trying to see through the it. All he managed to do was make himself dizzy, so he concentrated on what he was hearing; he could hear the people around him breathing, their clothes rustling, but he could also hear his father's ragged breath and the flapping noise his cape made as he fell from the sky and hit the lead pod, sliding down its side and disappearing into the shadows of the crater. Jimmy and Perry just stood there, trying not to think that Superman was dying in the park, but that only led to thinking about the secrets Lois and Superman shared, which was a much more difficult concept.

The car ride to the park wasn't any better. Traffic was moving swiftly; those on the road seemed oblivious to the happenings at the park. Lois and Jason sat in the front seat, Jason on his mother's lap. His eyes were still trained directly at the park, he was squinting and still trying to see through things, but it wasn't working. Perry was driving like a maniac, swerving from lane to lane in an attempt to get there faster, he didn't know why but it seemed like his passengers were the only ones who'd be able to save Superman, and Superman sold most of his papers and was therefore very important. Jimmy just sat in back and held onto his seatbelt, hoping to God that they didn't crash because Superman certainly wouldn't be saving them if they did.

Perry drove right into the park, honking the horn and grinding his teeth. Finally, they found the second crater. The helicopter hadn't moved, but the crowd had pressed in around the crater; whatever picture the camera on the helicopter was now broadcasting would be filled with feet. The crowd parted when the car drove up; somehow the fact that somebody had driven right up to them seemed to mean that the person driving the car just had the authority to do that. Lois jumped out of the car, ordering her son to stay with his Uncle Perry; Jason did as he was told.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea when Lois got out of the car. "That's Lois Lane!" seemed to be the general remark. Jimmy followed, snapping a few photos after he heard Perry's voice coming from the car behind them.

"Why didn't anybody help him?!" Lois asked, outraged; she jumped down into the crater and pulled Clark as far up the wall as she could. He was barely breathing, and the air that he could get in came in short, difficult gasps. He was sweating; whatever good the strange metal the handle of the dagger was made of had been doing had stopped working. He was bleeding heavily around the new wound, his liver punctured.

Taking a deep breath, Lois put a hand on the dagger. Clark cried out in pain and Lois immediately pulled her hand back. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Clark, it's just gotta come out," she whispered to him. He nodded, letting out a hissing breath through his teeth.

"Just do it," he said, each word seemed to cause him so much pain. Lois wiped tears off her face, and took the dagger again. She was gentle, trying not to jar it, but Clark cried out anyway. She braced her other hand next to the wound and yanked the dagger straight out in a quick pull. Clark yelled and gasped at the same time, choking on his own blood. The dirt around them was soaked with blood, as was the dagger in her hand. Lois wanted nothing better than to throw it away from her, but knew better.

"Jimmy!" Lois called, her voice cracking. The sound of the camera clicking stopped and she turned to look at the young photographer. "Get rid of this!" She yelled, this time her voice held steady. She tossed the dagger up and Jimmy backed away from the lip of the crater so he didn't end up with the dagger in his foot. The thing landed with the blade halfway into the ground. Jimmy bent over and snapped a shot of it sticking out of the earth, the blade home to acidic green and liquid red blood; the lead pod was in the background. The photo would win awards. "Jimmy!" Lois yelled urgently when she heard the camera go off again. Jimmy yanked the blade out of the ground and ran off into the crowd with it.

Lois turned back to Clark. He didn't look so good, but he looked better than he had; that blade had been in him for not nearly as long as the shard Lex had stabbed him with had been. His breathing had returned to almost normal, and his eyes had opened. He smiled weakly at her, but didn't manage to say anything. "You're so _stupid_ sometimes," Lois told him, crying. He only nodded, making her cry harder.

She turned her attention to his wound. It was better, but not very. The skin around the entry looked a little green, the same green the stab wound had turned soon after the kryptonite had been removed; Lois could only assume it was a good sign. His suit was soaked with blood, the fabric almost purple in some places. Lois put pressure on the wound, making him wince and give a little hiss, but nothing more.

They were like that for awhile. The crowd above was silent, watching the infamous Lois Lane keep pressure on their hero's bloody gash. Finally, Lois gave a sigh of relief, heard even at the lip of the crater in the silence. The crowd clapped when Superman got to his feet, even though he stumbled slightly and was leaning on Lois. Neither of them seemed to hear the crowd.

Startling them all, Superman urged Lois to lean back on the wall of the crater, as far from the pod as she could get. She did as she was told, and Superman hefted the giant pod and flew upwards. Lois watched silently as he flew away from her, holding her breath.

Clark was in pain. His mind was numb with pain. Wherever Jimmy had taken the kryptonite and whatever he'd done with it hadn't been enough. He could feel the radiation coursing through his veins; it wasn't as painful as it had been when the dagger was actually in him, but it was enough. His side screamed in protest as he lifted his arms above his head to hold the lead pod properly; the scar on his back was throbbing as well.

Finally unable to stand the pain anymore, he twisted around and lobbed the thing into deep space. He watched it just long enough to make sure it left the solar system before he let himself fall back towards the earth. The crowd below seemed to worry that he was unconscious again, but he only had eyes for Lois. She was still silently crying, leaning back against the crater wall where he'd left her. He swooped into the crater at full speed and stopped abruptly. He immediately cursed that choice, feeling his liver throb in complaint.

Holding his wound with one arm, he held out the other to Lois, who immediately latched onto his side. He flew them up to the lip of the crater, but then couldn't do it anymore. The kryptonite was much nearer now and his stomach began bleeding freely again despite the clotting that had been taking place. He leaned heavily on Lois, almost pushing both of them to the ground, but Lois could be strong for him. She braced her feet and pulled him along.

When they got to the car, Clark was completely unconscious. "Jimmy, where's the kryptonite?" She asked urgently. It must be close because Jason was having an asthma attack in the front seat; Perry was digging through Lois's purse to find the inhaler but having no luck. "Where's the kryptonite?!" She asked more urgently.

"I… I tossed it in the back seat so nobody would steal it…" Jimmy said, immediately realizing what he'd done wrong.

Lois put Superman in Jimmy's arms, and ran over to the car. She threw the back door open and grabbed the dagger. She ran back to the crater and threw it down. Again, the blade buried itself in the earth, this time all the way to the hilt.

Back at the car, Jason's asthma attack had subsided into unusually deep breaths that eventually became steady and controlled. Jimmy had put Superman in the back seat, laying him out as well as possible. Lois jumped into the back seat, bending Superman's legs enough so that she could close the door, and ordering Jimmy into the front seat before asking Perry to take her to Clark's apartment.

They didn't drive over the speed limit, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Lois kept pressure on Clark's wound the entire way, and he was conscious by the time they reached the parking garage.

"Can you fly up to the apartment?" Lois asked nervously as they got out of the car. Superman was still a little shaky, but he was getting better. "I don't think it'd be good if the neighbors saw you going in the front door…"

"Hurry," Clark said, floating upwards to the proper balcony. He floated so slowly. Lois wished she could be at the balcony door as soon as he opened it so that she could catch him, but that was impossible. He stumbled when his feet touched the balcony, slumping forward to lean against the glass.

"Thank you for everything, Perry," Lois said quietly, getting Jason out of the front seat and hurrying into the apartment building.

Lois dropped her keys twice before she managed to get the key in the lock. She could barely turn the doorknob; her hands were shaking so badly. "Clark?!" She called, almost panicked, as soon as she entered the apartment. Jason was right behind her.

"Daddy?!" They both walked right over to the balcony door. It was open, and there was blood smeared on the outside knob as though somebody with bloody hands had opened it. "Daddy!" Jason said again, spotting Clark on the floor behind the kitchen counter.

Lois pulled Clark into a better position, laying him flat on his back and pulling off the bloody shirt portion of the suit.

"Clark? Clark?" Lois was murmuring softly, trying to get any sort of reaction out of him. He rolled over, mumbling incoherently. She took that as another good sign and grabbed a towel, pressing it to his wound. He came around a few minutes later. "Clark?" She asked again, louder.

"Lois?" He looked around, Jason was watching fearfully from just behind Lois. "What happened?"

"Those men that were in the pod, they had a kryptonite dagger… don't you remember?" Clark sat up a little bit, wincing but ignoring the pain. He put his hand over Lois's and took the blood soaked cloth from her. Pulling it away revealed a perfectly healed patch of skin, the only reminder of recent events was a pale white scar that could've been years old, and a slight green tinge to the surrounding skin that was fading fast. Of course, the entire area was still covered in dark red blood.

With Lois's help, Clark got to his feet and rinsed the towel out. Watery blood rushed down the drain, a sickening reminder. He used the wet towel to wipe the blood off his chest, wincing slightly.

"Are you okay, Daddy?" Jason asked, he still hadn't moved; the blood had scared him.

"I'm fine," Clark said, automatically hugging his son back when Jason jumped into his arms from all the way across the room.

"You should shower," Lois said, always the voice of reason. She took Jason away, looking at the bloody spots now on his clothes; the wet towel hadn't gotten rid of all the blood.

"Right," Clark said, kissing Lois on the cheek tenderly and making his way into their bedroom. Lois was shaking terribly, but he didn't want to get blood all over her too. He grabbed the first clothes items he saw in his drawer and headed into the bathroom.

He looked at himself in the mirror again. He'd grabbed light jeans and a plain white button up shirt. He looked almost too clean. His black hair was wet and ruffled from the towel, more like Clark Kent's than Superman's, and he was wearing his glasses out of habit more than anything else. It was quiet out in the living room; Lois was cooking, or at least attempting to cook. Macaroni and cheese; even she couldn't mess that one up too bad, he smiled to himself. She kept glancing at the bathroom door. Jason was on the floor with a puzzle, happily distracted; somewhere in the last ten minutes he'd changed into clothes that weren't bloody.

"How're you feeling?" Lois asked when he stepped into the, worry etched into her face.

"I'm fine," he assured her, finally leaving the doorway.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay," she finally gave in.

"I'm gonna," he pointed to the balcony and Lois nodded.

"Are you okay in here, honey?" Lois asked, wanting to join Clark on the balcony.

"Yup, does Daddy feel better?" Jason asked.

"I think so," Lois responded, turning the heat down on the pan before joining Clark on the balcony. The handle was no longer bloody; it had been the first thing she'd done after he went to shower.

Clark just stood out in the sun for a minute, letting the last rays of the day beam down on his face. Even the weakening light of the sunset was invigorating, he always felt better when he was in the sunshine. He ran his hand subconsciously over his shirt across the place where he had a new scar; it was weird to think that it was less than a half an hour old, he felt as though it had happened years ago.

"Clark?" Lois asked, she sounded nervous.

"Hmm?" Clark asked back, tipping his head towards her but keeping his eyes closed.

"Are you okay?" She sounded so scared for him.

"Yes," he said, turning around to take her in his arms.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he assured her. She was studying his face as if she was worried he might sprout gills if she didn't keep an eye on him. "I'm alright, Lois. I'm Superman, remember… I don't stay hurt for long."

"I never want to have to see that again," Lois told him, falling into his chest. Clark held her close. He hadn't been able to hold her the last time he'd been exposed to kryptonite, this was a nice change. She was still trembling.

"I'm okay, Lois, you don't have to worry," he rubbed his hands along her arms, trying to warm her up as though her trembling was really shivering. She stayed close to his chest, her eyes tightly closed.

"When you go off to save people, I always know that you're coming back. I know that you're going to be okay because you're Superman, you're invulnerable," she finally looked up to his eyes. "I almost thought that you wouldn't be coming back this time… it was like when you were in the hospital… I couldn't do anything but watch you lie there, only this time all I could do was watch you get stabbed on TV…"

"Lois, you came when I needed you," he held her closer. "And you're here right now."

"But what if they had landed in Australia or something and there was no way I could've gotten to you? What if I had to watch you die on TV?"

"It won't ever happen again, Lois," he assured her. "I promise, Lois, it won't happen again."

She held onto him. She wasn't crying anymore, but she was still shaking slightly. He leaned down and captured her lips with his own. It seemed to be what she needed because she stopped shaking and deepened their kiss. He brought them to the side, pressing Lois gently against the wall, maneuvering them into a position where Jason wouldn't be able to see them from his place in the living room. Smiling at his tactics, Lois wrapped her arms around him, one hand making its way up the back of his shirt and the other tangling in his still damp hair. Clark smiled right back, letting his hands do some body-searching of their own.

A knock on the outer apartment door interrupted them. Clark leaned his forehead against Lois's, giving a rueful smile. "We seem cursed to never have our own little moments," he said quietly, leaning in to kiss her one last time before answering the door.

Jason beat him to it, though, and Jimmy and Perry were in the living room already when the pair of them entered, hurriedly tugging clothes and hair into place. Clark pushed his glasses up his nose carefully, being sure to look a little bashful while his boss and one of his best friends stared at them.

"Hi," Clark said awkwardly while Lois turned her attention to the macaroni on the burner.

"What happened to Superman? What were you two doing on that balcony?" Perry asked bluntly. He looked like he might be fighting an internal battle about which question was more important, Superman, or Lois and Clark's relationship.

"Um," Clark said, turning a darker shade of red. Behind him, Lois did similarly, but at least she wasn't stuttering. "Superman healed," he said, praying they'd buy it. "He just flew off, we were just saying goodbye to him…" they didn't buy it.

"How long ago did he leave?" Perry asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

"Um," Clark stammered again.

"Almost ten minutes ago," Lois said without shame. Clark's blush deepened, but hers seemed to have vanished; she took the macaroni off the heat and came to stand next to Clark, holding onto his arm with her engagement ring flashing in the light. Perry and Jimmy seemed to take the hint: _It's okay for us to make-out on our balcony, we're engaged._

"You look different, Clark," Jimmy said, tipping his head to one side.

"I… what?" Clark asked.

"It's the jeans," Perry observed.

"What?" Clark asked again.

"Hm…" Jimmy said. For a moment Clark almost worried that his cover might be blown, but then he remembered that neither of the men in front of him had ever seen him out of one of those ridiculous three piece suits, jeans were definitely a change.

"Was Superman okay when he left?" Perry asked, changing the subject again.

"Yeah, he was flying alright and he wasn't bleeding anymore," Lois said, glad the conversation had turned away from Clark, but then, technically they were still talking about Clark. Clark, meanwhile, prayed neither had to use the bathroom before they left because the suit was currently soaking in the bathtub.

"Good. I don't want to have to have his death on the front page anytime soon."

"Me neither," Clark said honestly. Lois gave him a look, stepping a little closer to him. Jason seemed to notice his parents' mood too; he looked up at them and smiled.

"Did you guys want to stay for dinner?" Lois asked. "I think we're ordering pizza."

"What about the macaroni?" Clark asked, turning to look at the pot on the stove, and wrinkled up his nose. "Yeah, pizza it is."

"No thanks, I've got to get back to the _Planet_, I've got a few calls to make… articles about his latest Superman thing to be assigned… I want a front page article emailed to the office by you two by midnight for the morning issue- you were here when he recovered, I want the scoop," Perry said. In seconds he'd gone from friend mode to editor mode. "Jimmy, I don't care if you stay for pizza, but I want those pictures ready to go by nine!"

"Alright, Chief."

"Don't call me chief," Perry said, nodding to the couple in the kitchen before walking out the door.

"I think I'm gonna pass on the pizza, too," Jimmy said sounding genuinely apologetic. "Prints by nine means I should get back and upload them."

"Have a nice night, Jimmy."

"You too, good luck with that article," he smiled and ruffled Jason's hair on his way out.

"That was weird," Clark said, leaning against the counter and taking his glasses off. For once he was glad he was in the habit of wearing them, even at home; it was circumstances like those when it came in handy.

"Yeah," Lois agreed, rifling through a drawer until she found a menu for the pizza place. "What're we getting tonight…?"

"Sausage!" Jason shouted; until a few months ago he'd been allergic to the sausage, but that was fading along with the rest of his small weaknesses.

The pizzas arrived less than a half an hour later, and found them all in front of the TV watching Finding Nemo, Jason's newest favorite. Clark extricated himself from his family and paid the pizza boy. They paused the DVD, grabbing paper plates and pushing the coffee table out and sitting on the floor.

Jason was asleep before the movie was halfway through. Somehow he'd managed to get his parents back onto the couch, and had stretched across both of their laps in a position that wasn't entirely uncomfortable for any of them. Lois was getting a little droopy eyed as well by the time Clark noticed that either of them were anything less than fully conscious.

Silently, Clark lifted Jason off of their laps, thankful that they had talked him into pajamas after he'd finished his pizza. Lois shifted a little on the couch to get more comfortable without Jason on her lap. Smiling and remembering a time not so many months ago when they'd done almost the same thing, Clark lay Jason in his bed and tucked him in. He went back for Lois after watching his son sleep for a moment. He still had trouble getting past the fact that Jason was his son.

She hadn't moved a muscle, which was typical for Lois after a highly stressful day, and he wasn't sure what a stressful day would look like if today hadn't been one of them. He picked her up just like he had all those months ago, cradling her to his chest and letting himself delight in the closeness. That and, of course, the fact that he would be setting her down in his bed to sleep next to him and not in the other room.

"Superman?" Lois asked groggily. Despite months of knowing who Superman was and living with both sides of him, Lois still associated being carried and being this warm with Superman.

"No, just me," Clark said. Lois smiled up at him, coming around again.

"I know."

She let him carry her the rest of the way into the room and shut the door behind them. He set her on the bed gently, as though she was still asleep. He had fully intended on letting her put pajamas on and getting on his own before trying anything, but she had other plans. She wouldn't let go of his neck. He raised a teasing eyebrow, using both hands to pry her arms from around his neck. He'd gotten her hands from around his neck and was holding onto her wrists between them when Lois lifted up her head and kissed him, drawing him down with her.

Clark silently thanked the powers that be that they had finished off their article while they were eating dinner and he could now enjoy his evening without worrying about work.

**-Chapter seven is almost finished already so... I'm giving you the annoying review jab. Let me know you're still reading and I'll get you some more to read. **

**-On another note- for those of you wondering about the police thing and Martha, I've decided I'll use that as the beginning for another fic I've got some ideas for (mostly different directions I considered when I was writing this story that I wanted to take but that didn't work for where I wanted this plot to go). I plan to finish this one before posting another, though, so I beg you for your patience. I'll put a note at the end of this to let you know what I'm calling the new one even if it's just so you can read the police part again. **

**-Yeah, that's all I got. Hope you're enjoying this!**


	7. Chapter 7

- - - **Chapter Seven**

Lois was very clingy for the rest of the week. It seemed that a near death experience was all Clark needed to get her attempting to touch him, and generally be as close as possible as often as possible. He certainly didn't mind, but it was a bit embarrassing at first, especially when they were at the _Planet._

They had arrived late because they'd already turned in their morning edition article. All they had to do that morning was attend the afternoon issue meeting, which didn't happen until almost eleven thirty. Coming up the elevator at eleven meant that everybody else was already in the bullpen and they got the entire elevator to themselves. This was when Lois's clinginess had begun.

They'd been holding hands to begin with, but he found her giving feather-light kisses along his jaw as soon as the doors closed behind them. "Lois?" He'd asked, not sure what she was getting at; last week she'd been gung-ho about nobody at the office knowing they were even together.

"Shutup," she mumbled back, doing it for him by kissing his lips. Clark returned in kind, turning them around and sitting her on the railing that ran along every wall in the elevator. When the door opened on their floor they were almost too distracted to notice, but they did, and so did everybody else in the bullpen. And it was probably the last position they'd expected to find those two particular people in. Clark still had Lois pressed against the wall, sitting on the railing, her hands were going wild along his back and in his hair; he had a hand on the railing and a hand at her neck, and was kissing her like he did every day. Of course, nobody in the bullpen had ever thought of Clark kissing anyone, so it was a very abnormal thing to see him doing it so… fluently.

Clark had the humility to look embarrassed, but Lois just looked happy. She had a Clark-worthy smile on her face all the way to her desk, where she leaned over and kissed Clark's cheek goodbye before trying to concentrate on her work.

Clark, on the other hand, had to walk past four more desks before he reached his own, getting four more close-up, astounded stares. Then he had to listen to their coworkers gossip about them from over by the copy maker.

Lois only lasted about twenty minutes at her desk before she felt like she was going through Clark-withdrawal. "Whatcha working on?" Lois asked, coming up behind Clark and putting her hands on his shoulders. She'd only managed to get about three sentences written for her next article, and called a contact to set up an interview.

"A follow-up piece for that Superman article in the morning edition," Clark said, looking up at her with a charming smile. "I even got a few quotes from that interview with Superman," he winked.

"Kent! Lane! In here! Now!" Perry called from his office, startling them both. Lois jumped away from Clark like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Clark being the cookie.

Lois and Clark exchanged a guilty look before walking into their editor's office. To their surprise, Jimmy was already in the office; maybe they weren't going to get yelled at for being touchy-feely at the office.

"Chief?" Lois asked quietly when they walked into the office. Clark was right behind her, closing the door quietly. He looked just as shy and worried as he usually did, but at least he'd dropped the clumsy act and hadn't tripped over the door frame or something; that probably would've made it worse.

"Stop looking like you're in trouble, Lane," Perry said gruffly, winking at Clark. Clark blinked back at him, color rushing to his cheeks.

"Wh-what did you need, Chief?" Clark asked, glancing from Jimmy to Perry and back.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, we've been running a photo-journal and short pieces on each of our writers," Perry said, opening up a recent issue of the _Planet_ to the front page of the Feature section. The page had photos of Bill Krugle from News, and Nancy Sweinbak from Health. "You're the last two, everybody else in the office has already been covered. The way this works, is you basically take two weeks off."

"What?!" Lois sounded completely outraged, but Perry held up a hand for silence.

"You each get a week for your life story."

"Our life stories?" Clark asked, immediately dreading it.

"Yeah. The pair of you and Jimmy spend a week going someplace that's important to you, the place you grew up, someplace that has a story for you. One of you tells the story, the other writes it down, and Jimmy takes pictures. Clark, you're from Kansas town, right?" Clark nodded.

"Smallville."

"Yeah, so the three of you go to Smallville, Clark gives you the grand tour, shows you some places with some memories; Jimmy takes a picture of some corn, the readers read the article Lois writes about you and they feel more connected; when they read your next piece they'll identify with you more, know they can trust that good-ol' farmboy they read that article about rather than just seeing your byline."

"Um," Clark said. There were certainly parts of his heritage he didn't want the _Planet_ to run an article about, and it all linked back to Smallville.

"Lois, before you complain," Perry held up his hand again, and Lois snapped her mouth shut. "I will watch Jason while the three of you go off on this; you'll be leaving Monday. I know you were raised in Metropolis, so you can come for dinner Wednesday night, if you'd like. And I've already booked a flight for the three of you to Smallville for Sunday night. I'll let you make your own reservations, or whatever you need. I know you've got a farm there, Kent."

"What if we happened to already have plans for the next two weeks, Perry?" Lois asked acidly, she did _not_ like to have her life scheduled for her, even if this 'vacation' wasn't sounding so bad.

"The key phrase there is 'what if,' I believe," Perry smiled.

"Perry, I don't like…"

"Think of it as an interesting way to announce your engagement," Perry suggested with a shrug. Lois crossed her arms in front of her.

"What do you mean?"

"We can add a box in between the articles, here-ish," he pointed to the space he was thinking of on the bottom half of the page on the desk. "Write a little blurb about how you two met, when you'll tie the knot, if there's a date," he added hastily with a glance at Lois, "and maybe something about Jason."

It took several more minutes of convincing, but Lois finally agreed to go along with Perry's little personal ad, as she called it. Jimmy seemed excited to spend the next two weeks learning all the little facts about his friends that usually just didn't come up. He hadn't known that there was a Kent farm, just assumed he'd lived in a small town near some cornfields.

Jason was excited for the change of pace. Though his life was far from normal, he was used to it. Now he'd be staying in a different house, a _house_, not an apartment, with different people. Lois, however, was definitely not looking forward to her excursion with her fiancé and his best friend. Not only did that mean that she'd have to make up excuses for him to disappear that Jimmy would believe, but she'd have to do it while showing them around her home district and trying to think of touching stories she could tell that her readers would identify with.

"Bye Mommy! Bye Daddy!" Jason said, hugging them each in turn. "Bye Mister Jimmy, have fun taking pictures!"

"I'll try," Jimmy assured him with a smile. He'd never really seen the three of them acting like a normal family before. He'd seen them interacting plenty of times; Lois would ask Clark to go pick up Jason, Lois would bring Clark his coffee in the morning, they'd arrive, leave, and eat together.

"Give a shout if you need _anything_," Clark told his son. Jason nodded.

Lois was in a dark mood as she drove through the streets of Metropolis, heading west towards the military base she'd grown up on. "You were an army brat, Ms. Lane?" Jimmy asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Lois said. She'd had to make about a dozen phone calls to get approval to go back on the base she'd grown up on. It was a ghost-town now; all but a skeleton crew had been transferred away to more strategic locations. Even though Metropolis was a big city, it wasn't one that needed constant military presence, and with Superman around most of the officers stationed in Metropolis had become excellent golfers.

They went through the gates, submitting the less than enthusiastic search of the car and their persons. "Hey, no!" Jimmy yelled when they took his camera. "Don't open that! You'll expose the film! C'mon guys; Lois, tell them to stop it!"

"Sergeant," a deep voice came from behind him, making both Jimmy and Clark spin around in surprise, or mock-surprise in Clark's case.

"Daddy!" Lois said, sounding both surprised and happy. The two young guards jumped back to salute, leaving Jimmy to sigh with relief as they dropped his camera back into his hands.

"Lo-lo!" General Lane said with a smile, pulling his daughter into a tight embrace. The soldiers just stood there saluting, waiting for a return salute from the general, and slightly thrown off by the show of affection.

"Hi, Daddy!" Lois said, pulling out of their embrace and smiling at him. He seemed to remember himself, then, his smile falling and his arm coming up in a stiff salute.

"Gen- General Lane," Clark said, holding out his hand to shake. "Hello, I'm Clark Kent."

"Ah, yes, Mr. Kent. You and Lo-lo go chasing after her stories," the general had a trace of a smile on his face, but he wasn't giving any other clues that he had any sort of emotions.

"Jimmy Olsen, I'm the, uh, photographer," Jimmy said, shaking General Lane's hand.

"General Sam Lane, nice to meet you," the General said with a firm handshake.

"You giving the tour, Daddy?" Lois asked with a smile, completely ignoring her father's weird emotional level.

"Of course, sweety," he said, putting an arm around his daughter and walking her back to the car, shooing the soldiers away as they went. Jimmy and Clark grabbed the contents of their pockets and climbed into the back seat; General Lane was driving.

The Lanes were talking at top speed, true Lane fashion; Clark could barely keep up with the conversation, but they seemed to be doing fine. Clark exchanged a look with Jimmy before smiling to himself and looking at the concrete buildings as they moved deeper into the complex.

"So, Mr. Kent, you're going to be the one writing this little piece on my daughter, here?" General Lane asked, startling Clark out of his thoughts, the nearness of his voice pulling his ears away from Jason's laugh on the playground of his school.

"Oh, uh, yes, sir," Clark said, smiling at his soon to be father in law in the rearview mirror.

"I suppose you need a few stories then, huh?" Lois turned to her father, a terrified look on her face, but her father just smiled.

"Yes, sir, I suppose a few of those would be nice," now he was smiling too.

"Well," the general started looking at buildings to find a story. "I suppose we should get you all settled before we dig into the dirt," he said when he didn't come up with anything good.

They were quickly leaving the concrete buildings behind for cookie-cutter houses. They pulled into the driveway of the biggest house a few minutes later. "Welcome home, sweety," General Lane said. Clark thought he heard a note of desperation in the general's voice, but his face was just as blank as always. Lois just smiled at her dad and walked around to the trunk to get the bags. Clark managed to trip over his feet a few times and almost drop the suitcases Lois had given him at least twice by the time they'd made it up the stairs. Lois was annoyed that he was going so over the top pretending to be a klutz, her father was getting a bad impression, and Jimmy was wondering what had his best friend so nervous.

"I've got Lucy's old room all set up for you, Mr. Olson," General Lane said, leading them to the first room at the top of the stairs. Lois and Clark stifled laughs as the door opened to reveal a pale pink room, a wall covered in pictures of the same group of girls appearing to attend various high school functions. The bed was pushed against the far wall, the sheets plain and white with a fluffy navy comforter; the foot of the bed came up to the window that overlooked the driveway with accompanying window seat. The desk was also covered in pictures, these in frames and mostly of college life, with a spot cleared away for a computer that had moved out with the former occupant of the room. Overall, the room was feminine, but bare. There were no clothes in the closet or dresser, no trash in the can, everything in place. The only personal things were the old pictures and it was kind of creepy.

"Wow, Daddy, you haven't touched her room since she left!" Lois said, walking into the room and staring at the wall of pictures.

"Haven't really needed to, she was such a tidy girl anyways," General Lane gave a smile. "She came through and cleaned it out right after her honeymoon, took the important things, got rid of the junk that piled up during high school. You know how she is," he paused, looking at the pictures over his daughter's shoulder. "She called the other day; she and Ron might be able to make it for dinner this weekend before you leave for… where was your next stop?"

"Smallville, Kansas," Lois said, unable to keep the humor from her voice.

"Just because _you_ grew up in the big city, Lois…" he said with a smile, forgetting to stutter.

"Oh c'mon, _Smallville_," Lois teased, mock-glaring back at him.

"Jeez, guys, save it for when you're married," Jimmy said, finally getting over the pink and putting his suitcase on the bed. It took him at least ten seconds to realize that everybody else in the room had frozen. "Oh. You hadn't told him yet…"

General Lane looked like he couldn't decide if the color was going to drain out of his face, or he was going to turn a vibrant shade of red. He only managed to look constipated. His eyes darted from his daughter's face; to her left hand, his eyes narrowing when they fell upon the simple diamond ring on a significant finger; and then he looked up at Clark who was looking extremely guilty and even more nervous.

"Mr. Kent?" General Lane said with forced calm.

"Ge-general Lane?" Clark said, forcing himself to stutter.

"Daddy…" Lois started, looking nervously between the pair of them.

"Not a word, Lois," he said without looking at his daughter. "Let's take a drive, Mr. Kent."

"Al-alright."

"Daddy…" Lois tried again, but her father had already left the room.

"He's gonna kill me!" Clark whispered, pecking Lois on the cheek before running out after General Lane, who was shouting from the foyer.

"He's gonna kill him," Lois told Jimmy when they heard the car doors slam.

"I'm so sorry, Lois, I had no idea… I didn't mean… I thought…."

"It's okay, Jimmy. It's probably better that he figured it out now than me and Clark having to talk to him," she smiled. "Knowing Daddy he'd ask us about the ring in a very public place and then make a huge scene… he's never been a fan of anybody his daughters bring home."

"He seemed to like Ron Troupe okay when he married Lucy."

"Yeah, well, that was the wedding, not the original confrontation," Lois pointed out. "It took about three weeks of the pair of them showing up on his doorstep every night before he'd even _talk_ to Ron. I suppose him actually taking Clark out for a drive to talk is a good sign."

"Maybe with one daughter married he's more ready to accept that neither of you are in high school anymore," Jimmy offered, glancing at the pictures on the wall.

"Yeah," Lois chuckled, walking over to the pictures. She was about to tell Jimmy a story about one of the pictures when her cell phone rang. "Lois Lane… Clark? He _what?!_... I can't believe him!... No, you- do whatever, I'll talk to Daddy and give you a call once he stops being an ass… He's _my_ father, Clark, I'll call him whatever I want to… Don't 'Lois' me… fine, okay, I'll call you."

"What happened?"

"Daddy dropped him off right outside the gate."

"No way."

"Yeah."

They were interrupted by the slam of a car door in the driveway soon followed by footsteps on the stairs. "Jimmy, you might want to barricade yourself in here." Jimmy didn't need to be told twice, putting his laptop in the empty space on the desk and booting it up while Lois went to confront her father.

Clark walked away from the base, listening to the soldiers gossip inside their little guard station thing. They all wondered what had possessed their CO to make him throw a normal-looking guy that was supposed to be his daughter's friend off the base. He finally reached a turn in the road and took the opportunity to change into Superman and fly into the clouds. He floated almost a mile up from the Lane household, watching and listening to the argument, smirking when Jimmy lay down on the bed and tried to be asleep, glaring at the door when he could still hear the raised voices in the hall.

"Daddy, he's a good guy. You just have to give him a chance."

"Lois, honey, he's such a klutz… you can do better than him. What about Richard? What happened to him?"

"You didn't even _like_ Richard."

"Richard was a nice guy. He was a pilot, an editor, your son's father."

"Richard left me, Dad," Lois said, her voice hardening.

"You never explained to me why, honey," General Lane pushed.

"I don't have to explain it to you, Dad, it's my life."

"He was a nice guy, honey; I don't understand why he'd leave his son…"

"If Jason had been a girl I doubt you'd be saying the same thing," Lois muttered under her breath. Her father fell silent, and Clark wanted to swoop down and give her a hug.

"Lois," General Lane said, not wanting to go there. Even Lois knew when to stop.

"Anyway, Richard wasn't Jason's biological father, anyway."

"What?" Sam Lane seemed to be having a bit of a problem with that. First of all, he'd like to think of his daughter as a virgin despite the evidence to the contrary; thinking of her as not sure who the father of her son was: even less acceptable. "Who is the father then?" He asked, the words separated to keep some of the emotion out.

"Clark, Daddy," Lois said, her tone even and calm despite her father's obvious fury. "Clark and I worked closely together for four years before… anything happened. He was my best friend, still is."

"Then why wasn't he there for you? Why were you with Richard?"

"Because Clark left before we knew I was pregnant. He traveled the world, said he was doing some soul-searching; speaks a bunch of different languages because of it. Anyways, we decided we'd see other people while he was gone, try again if we were both single if and when he made it back. I found Richard, he didn't find anybody. But when Clark came back Richard started to notice similarities between them, he asked questions. I didn't lie to Richard. He didn't like that I hadn't told him Clark was Jason's father; he liked thinking that I'd gotten knocked up by some punk he'd never have to meet," she paused to glare at her father. "Richard left and even though Clark didn't know that Jason was his, or that I still loved him, he took us in. He was still my best friend after all that. Daddy, I'm in love with Clark, Clark's in love with me, this isn't the 1800s, we don't need your permission; we're getting married next spring."

"You have a date?" General Lane asked, sounded slightly shocked. Of course, he'd just got more to the story of Lois's life than anybody but Clark had ever heard, and it was a bit overwhelming.

"May 20th."

"Hmm."

"What?" She asked coldly. Lois was glad the yelling part of it was done, but she almost liked yelling better than the apologies that followed.

"I think I owe that boyfriend of yours a drive."

"Fiancé."

"What?"

"He's my fiancé, Dad."

"Fine, I think I owe your _fiancé_ a drive."

"Thank you, Daddy."

"We'll bring back dinner."

Lois just nodded, heading down the stairs to make herself some tea. Jimmy had heard the whole thing and she wasn't sure how she felt about that just now. He was a friend, a good friend, but he wasn't one of the people she usually confided in.

"Clark?" Lois asked when her phone stopped ringing.

"Lois?"

"Yeah, um, Daddy's coming back to the gate to get you now."

"I know."

"Of course you do, you watched the whole thing, didn't you?"

"I'm always keeping an eye on you, you know that."

"I'm not sure if I should thank you, or get a restraining order."

"Well, right now I should probably stop talking on the phone and start flying towards those woods where your dad dropped me off."

"This is a military base, Clark!" Lois said, her voice dropping to an agitated whisper. "There're cameras everywhere! What're people going to say if they see pictures of Superman talking on a cell phone mid-flight?!"

"I doubt any cameras can see me this high up on such a cloudy night. Heat imaging maybe, but they couldn't prove I'm talking on a cell phone."

"Fine, but don't whine to me when people come knocking on _our_ door wondering if I have Superman's cell phone number."

"I promise to laugh."

"I'm sure, now go wait for Daddy."

The click of the phone was the only response.

"Superman has a cell phone number?" Jimmy asked, coming into the kitchen and forgetting all about the apologies he'd been planning on making.

"What?"

"Were you just talking to Superman?"

"Oh, no, that was Clark," Lois smiled. "He asked if I'd call Superman to come and save him from the father-in-law-to-be, I said I didn't think Superman had a cell phone to call."

"Couldn't you just call for him; he can hear everything, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Just trying to cheer Clark up; Daddy's going to chew him out pretty good. Even if he _has_ accepted that Clark and I are getting married, he'll still want to prove to Clark that he's not good enough for me," she smiled again. "Hell, since the first time Superman showed up, Daddy seems to have decided that I should marry him and nobody less."

"Well, at one point it did look like you might've had a chance with the blue Boy Scout."

"Superman could never belong to just one person; the world needs him too badly, even if I didn't always think so," she said, frowning. "Clark is my personal Superman."

Clark adjusted his glasses in the woods, smiling at Lois's comment just as Lois's car slowed to a stop a few paces away. _Here we go_, he thought with a mental sigh.

"General Lane," Clark said, walking over to the rolled down passenger window.

"Get in."

"Am I not far enough away from your daughter just yet?"

"There's no need to be rude, Mr. Kent," the General said coldly. Clark just raised an eyebrow. Sam's face softened, very slightly, and Clark decided not to push his luck. He climbed into the car and they were speeding off towards Metropolis before he'd even closed the door all the way. "Lois tells me that you're Jason's father," he said after a moment.

"I am," Clark confirmed, glancing at the older man.

"Why weren't you there for her?" He asked coldly.

"We didn't know she was pregnant," Clark started defensively, but simmered when the general's knuckles got a little whiter on the steering wheel. "I had plans to travel the world; I already had the plane ticket. I wasn't sure if or when I'd be coming back," at least that part was true. "When I first came back I thought Jason was Richard's, just like everybody else did."

"That's what Lois said."

"That's because it's true."

The light turned red and they sat in silence. It was Clark who spoke next, after the tension level rose to just below unbearable and they were pulling into a parking garage within walking distance of a Chinese takeout place. "I'm in love with your daughter, sir, and…"

"So you traveled the world, huh? Pick up any Chinese, at all?" The general interrupted.

"Um, y-yes, sir, I speak a little Chinese."

"Good, because the food here is great but the help only speaks Chinese."

"Oh, well… I haven't spoken any in a long time… I was nowhere near fluent even when I was passing through…" He continued like this until they made it through the door.

"After you, Mr. Kent," the General said as though Clark hadn't said anything since they'd left the car. With a sigh, Clark shut up and walked into the restaurant.

"Clark!" Perry's voice carried across the room from his spot as the last in line.

"Daddy!"

"Jason! Perry! What are you guys doing here? I- I thought you lived across town?" Clark asked, catching Jason without really thinking about it when he ran across the room and threw himself into his father's arms.

"True, but this place has the best Chinese in town, and Jason was begging for egg rolls all afternoon."

"Hi Grampa Sam!" Jason said, smiling and waving over Clark's shoulder.

"Hey, kiddo," the general said. He was smiling, beaming actually, completely different from just moments ago.

"What're you doing here Daddy?" Jason asked, pulling away from Clark slightly so he could look up at his face. Clark heard Sam holding his breath for a moment behind him when he saw the similarities between the two.

"We're getting dinner, what're _you _doing here?" He directed the question more at Perry than his son, but Jason responded anyways.

"We're getting dinner too!" Clark smiled. "They have those really good egg rolls that don't make me sick! Remember, Mommy brought some from here last time she burned the frozen pizza!"

"I remember," Clark said, chuckling. Perry was looking at him strangely, as though he'd never pictured Clark and Jason as father and son even though he knew the truth of it. There was also the fact that the last person Perry had heard Jason call Daddy wore a skintight primary colored suit and cape.

"Yu oedda Chinese?" The man behind the counter asked, his accent truly horrible.

"Um, yeah," Perry said, looking at the menu for a brief second. "We need two orders of them egg rolls, some white rice, some of them noodle things for my wife…"

"Um," the man said, his eyebrows knitting together. "Wait momen, I see if my dautta here; she speak good English."

That's where Clark stepped in, switching his mind over to Chinese. "I speak Chinese," he told the man (in Chinese), who looked truly relieved to hear it.

"Good. I only came here a month ago; my English isn't so good, yet."

"You sound good for only a month," Clark assured him with a smile. "It took me at least a year to even start to get the hang of your language."

He gave both orders, Perry getting that look on his face again. "I didn't know you spoke Chinese, Kent."

"I did a lot of traveling in the past few years, ch- Chief, I picked up a few things."

"Huh," Perry said, still eyeballing him. "Well, I guess I'll call you next time we need somebody who speaks Chinese to run over to the embassy instead of waiting four hours for a translator to show up. They don't like reporters at embassies much; always make us sit around for the longest time…"

"B-be glad to help," Clark said. "Kind of justifies the, uh, sabbatical."

"Ya already have that covered," Perry said with a smile. "Since you've been back those joint articles you and Lois've been doing have more than made up for all the stories we lost when you left."

"Chief…"

"Oh good, food's here," Perry said, quickly grabbing the bag that had his order in it and handing Clark his.

"Egg rolls!" Jason yelled, squirming out of his father's arms to try and get a look in the bag.

"They're in there, Jason, don't worry," Perry said. It was Clark's turn to give him a look; Perry sounded more like an uncle than the gruff editor he was used to. "What?" Perry asked, returning to usual, when he noticed Clark's look.

"Nothing, Chief," Clark said, thanking the man behind the counter and grabbing his own bag of takeout. "G'night, Jason- be good for Perry and Alice!" He gave his son a hug.

"I will!" Jason hugged him back tightly. "G'night, Daddy! G'night Grammpa Sam!" He hugged his grandfather too.

"Good night, munchkin," Sam said, giving a hug too, before nodding goodbye to Perry and leading Clark out the door.

"So, where else did you go on your little trip?" Sam asked after they were back in the car. Something had changed, but don't ask Clark what it was.

"Oh, um," Clark tried to think of a good story. "Well, I started by heading west. I stopped in Kansas for a few months, spent time with my mom. I, uh, visited a llama farm in Mexico…"

"You speak Spanish too, then?"

"A bit," Clark said, clearing his throat. "I kept going west after that. Um, spent almost a year in China, then did my own little tour of Europe. About, well, it'd be almost three years ago now I came back to the Americas. Stayed in Canada for awhile, Alaska; visited Mom one last time before coming back here," he distracted them both by almost dropping one of the bags on his lap onto the floor when they turned and then spent the next few minutes stabilizing the takeout on his lap.

"Can't believe Lo-lo fell for such a klutz," Sam muttered under his breath.

"A klutz with really good ears," Clark said, looking out the window. The general didn't apologize.

"Look, Kent," Sam said as they pulled up in his driveway. Clark turned away from the door handle to listen. "Lois made it clear that there was nothing I could do about the two of you getting married, but I don't know you. The only things I know about you are that you grew up on a farm, you just got back from a five year trip around the world, and you write a damn good newspaper article," he was glaring at him, Clark nodded his thanks for the newspaper comment but didn't say anything. "All I can say is this; I've always been protective of my kids, hell, I ran background checks on every potential boyfriend either of my girls ever had. If you _ever_ hurt my daughter or her son, if you _leave_ again… you'll have the full wrath of the U.S. Army on your ass so fast that you won't know _what_ hit you."

"Sir, Jason is my son too, and I love Lois more than anybody else in the world," Clark met his gaze, letting his voice drop down to the timbre he used when he was Superman. "If anybody were to hurt either of them I'd be the one trying to protect them, not the one doing the hurting." He opened the door and maneuvered his large frame out of the car, bringing both takeout bags with him. Sam thought he almost saw something oddly familiar about the way Clark was moving, almost gracefully, toward the door of the house, but then Clark stumbled a little going up the steps and whatever he'd been seeing passed.

"How did it go?" Lois asked nervously the moment he stepped in the door.

"CK, I'm so sorry about all that, I didn't mean to be the one- I thought you'd already told him!"

"It's okay, Jimmy- not your fault," Clark smiled, handing Lois one of the takeout bags. "It went okay, I think, Lois," he said after a thoughtful pause. "I'm assuming that the fact that he still hasn't followed me in means I said something right before we came in…"

"What did you tell him, Clark?" Lois asked nervously, thinking of their secret.

"Nothing," Clark assured her, thinking the same thing. He quickly changed the subject when Jimmy gave them a funny look, "We ran into Perry and Jason at the restaurant."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, Jason wanted egg rolls and Perry isn't nearly as hard as he pretends to be," he smiled at the pair of them.

"True," Lois smirked herself.

"Obviously you two have seen a whole different side to the Chief that I never have… I think I might have a heart attack if he did anything other than yell."

Sam Lane joined them all a minute later, not saying anything; just listening. Clark had brought his voice up in pitch and was stuttering again, but he was careful to only make minor klutzy mistakes; he didn't want to screw up whatever it was he'd gained in his relationship with Sam.

Dinner went off without a hitch. They mostly talked about Jimmy; a safe topic, even if it was a little awkward for Jimmy. General Lane ended up pulling out a copy of the _Daily Planet_ with Jimmy's life story printed in it with shots of the house he grew up in, a suburb of Cooperstown, NY.

"Bet you play a good ball game then," Sam asked with a smile.

"Actually, not at all," Jimmy said, smiling back. "My hand-eye coordination sucks, always has. That's actually what got me into photography, just use your eyes; all your hands have to do is keep steady and push a button."

"I see," Sam said, suddenly without much to reply with.

"Yeah, I worked for the school paper and covered all the games; I was friends with most of the guys on the team so I got to sit on the bench with them and stuff," he smiled, pointing to one of the pictures in the paper. It showed him and a few guys who looked a few years older than he was, "That's what's left of the team my senior year."

"You look close," Lois commented.

"Yes and no," Jimmy shrugged. "I wasn't on the team so I didn't spend as much time with them as they did with each other, but they were still my friends." They smiled at him, not really sure what they should say. "You play any sports, Clark?"

"Not really, I spent most of my time helping out on the farm," he shrugged. It was true enough, of course with a person as strong and fast as him the regular chores took only a few minutes and he spent the rest of his time bugging his dad about letting him play sports; but there was always the question of control, and the what-if situations. "My interview is next week, though. You play sports, Lois?"

"Just tennis," she shrugged, grabbing a few of the empty white boxes and heading for the trash. "Not particularly good or bad. Kept me busy on the weekends."

"Did you even enjoy it?" Clark asked with a laugh.

"Sure I did. Gave me a reason not to go to the football games, didn't it?" She asked with a smirk.

"Oh, c'mon, Lois," her father said.

"Well," Lois shrugged. Clark's head jerked slightly, only Lois really noticed. She had been getting used to that little twitch over the past few months and knew what it meant; somebody somewhere needed Superman. Usually, that twitch was followed by a slight gust of wind as Clark changed into his costume and flew out the window, but not this time. He glanced at Lois, eyes pleading for her to make up a reason for him to leave. "Hey, do you want to go for a walk, Clark? I'll show you around a bit, you can get a feel for the base, a trip down memory lane for that article?"

"Sure, that sounds great," Clark said, almost a little too quickly.

"Do you want me to come too, get some pictures?"

"Maybe we should just go for now," Lois said with a shrug. "It's too dark for good pictures now anyway."

"Okay, sure."

"Thanks, Jimmy. See you in an hour, Daddy?" He nodded and watched them grab coats and head out the door.

"Hey! No funny business out there!" Lois's chuckle and the sound of a passing gust of wind were the only noises that made it back to his ears.

Several hundred feet up, Lois was still chuckling. "Do you think this qualifies as funny business?" She asked, kissing his cheek. Clark smiled, but was preoccupied.

"I'll drop you off at a coffee shop, okay? Come and get you as soon as I can."

"Of course, Clark. Who needs help?"

"Subway tunnel in New York collapsed at a crossing. One train already impacted, another is on its way."

"Gives a whole new meaning to that velocity question on all math tests."

"Good thing I paid attention in class, then."

"Good thing you exist," she said, kissing him goodbye as he landed in an alley next to her favorite all night coffee shop. He zoomed away, the gust of his wake almost knocking her over.

Lois spent a half an hour reading the afternoon issue of the _Daily Planet_, finding it odd to not see her byline under any of the articles. The TV in the corner was tuned into the news; Superman had managed to clear up the subway tunnel in time for the second train to pass through without even noticing there was a problem. The first train wasn't so lucky. Four people died on impact, and none walked away without minor injuries. He then showed up on four different continents doing various heroic acts, she was about to get a refill when Clark walked in, three piece suit and all, looking apologetic.

"Sorry I'm late, honey," he smiled.

"Not a problem, Mr. Kent," she said with false sternness. "I am caffeinated enough now to have waited at least three more hours."

"Good to hear," he smiled. The waitress was giving them a look, so Lois quickly paid for her coffee and they snuck back into their alley. Moments later, Lois and Superman were airborne once again. "So, you should probably come up with a couple of good stories for me to have an idea about tomorrow, otherwise whatever I did to please your dad is going to slip his mind pretty fast."

"You're probably right," Lois said before capturing his mouth and continuing said funny business until they landed in a shadowy corner of the base where no cameras managed to see.

They reentered the house about forty minutes later, laughing about one tale or another of Lois's childhood.

"Have a nice walk?" Sam asked, cutting into their laughter. He and Jimmy were sitting and watching the news in the living room. The living room was set up with an overstuffed couch in the middle with two well worn arm chairs on either side of it; the two men were sitting in the armchairs and looking like they'd both like to be a couple feet farther apart.

"Yup," Lois said, flopping down on the couch and pulling Clark with her so she could sit sideways and lean against him.

"Too dark to see much, but I heard some interesting stories," Clark said, smiling too and putting an arm around Lois, holding her close. The pair of them ignored the looks they were getting, and focused on the TV.

There wasn't much conversation as the night wore on. There was nothing interesting on the news; they eventually resorted to playing footage of Superman's latest rescues and talking about what a quiet night it was for the caped hero.

"Even superheroes deserve a night off every once in awhile," Sam commented, glancing at his daughter. "You've interviewed him before, Lo-lo; what does he do when he's not flying around in tights?"

"Well," Lois said, squeezing Clark's hand. "You know… he's got a secret identity, he'd never tell me who he is though. Wouldn't even let me write the fact that he has an alter-ego. I suppose he's sitting around watching the news just like everybody else."

"Do you think he's got a wife and kids at home?" Jimmy asked with a huge smile on his face. He liked the idea of Superman being a family man, a regular Joe.

"He's an alien, isn't he?" Sam asked, checking with his daughter. "I doubt his… genes would match up with ours. What would happen to the mother during pregnancy? Her internal organs wouldn't hold up so well against super strong kicks. How would she raise a child that could fly?"

"Who knows, Daddy," Lois said with a shrug that brought her a little deeper in Clark's embrace. "I'm sure his second life would make a great story, but if he ever told anyone he'd never be able to live it."

"That'd suck," Jimmy commented, yawning. The news had moved onto the weather: it was going to be _hot_ for the next three weeks, maybe some rain over the weekend and a few degree drop, but still hot. "I think I'll turn in," Jimmy said, stretching and clomping up the stairs to Lucy's bedroom.

The three of them sat in silence while the anchor told them about the effects the heat wave might have on different places it would be hitting. Metropolis would get dry heat, but humidity was expected to make life very uncomfortable for anybody farther north. It was looking like Kansas would be a little on the warm side, but still comfortable when they arrived next week.

The news ended and an infomercial about nose hair removal came on. Clark looked down to find Lois asleep against his chest. "Guess I'll bring her upstairs," Clark said, shifting around to lift her off his lap. Forgetting to be klutzy, Clark lifted her up and headed for the stairs almost gracefully; of course, he was quite practiced in the carrying Lois around thing, having done it often as both Superman and himself. Sam watched with narrowed eyes as Clark made his way out of sight on the upper floor, moving through the house almost soundlessly.

"Night, CK," Jimmy said with a crooked smile as he was closing his door. He'd gotten an interesting glimpse at their relationship after following them around for just a day; first the easy conversation that never seemed to exist when Clark was around, especially at the office or around Lois, and now he was carrying her to bed as though she weighed nothing.

"See you in the morning, Jimmy," Clark said quietly before stepping into Lois's room. The walls were dark red, not blood red, but a warm shade of red without being too loud. The carpet was soft and plain cream. She had a few pictures scattered around the room but not as many as Lucy; most were from high school and college, but a few had been taken at the _Daily Planet_. There was a shelf above the desk that had scrapbooks with year labels on the binding, a better way to keep memories as some say. The rest of the room was just as clean and empty as Lucy's. He put Lois in bed, pulling off her shoes and socks before tucking her in. After she was safely asleep, he looked around the room more closely.

He was in a few of the pictures; he'd forgotten that they had even been taken. He looked awkward in most of them, like he always tried to look; just part of the background. Only one picture was actually taken of him and Lois in particular, they were smiling at the camera with an arm around each other standing by Lois's desk with a few folders spread out between them. It was just after their first story was published together, and it had been a hit, hence the huge smiles. He looked at the rest of the pictures on her desk, senior prom, a couple football games, a few cameos from birthday parties. There was an empty place on the desk where her laptop went when she visited; she hadn't unloaded it yet. The rest of the space was littered with newspaper clippings from the _Planet_. Her father had cut out every single article she'd ever written and left it on her desk for her.

Clark went back downstairs and found a blanket and a pillow on the couch, his future father-in-law had already gone to bed. Rolling his eyes, he changed into his pajamas in the bathroom and then lay down on the couch, keeping his glasses within close reach on the coffee table.

Clark was startled awake twice overnight, the first time shortly after midnight when he flew to a dark alley in the shadier part of Metropolis to prevent a rape, and the second just before 2am, when Sam helped himself rather noisily to a 'midnight' snack. Clark just pretended to still be asleep when Sam came and watched him while he ate whatever it was he'd found in the fridge.

"I can't believe he's still asleep," Lois said the next morning. It was 6am, and everybody but Clark was awake already. Clark was usually the first one up, especially with his sensitive hearing, but not today. The sun was shining directly on him, and he'd fallen into such a deep sleep that even Jimmy tripping down the stairs a half an hour ago for coffee hadn't woken him.

"Is he a morning person or should we put on another pot of coffee before we wake him?" Sam asked, glancing at the man on the couch.

"Put on another pot and I'll go wake him," Lois said with a shrug. Nobody was dressed yet; it was Sunday and therefore a day to lie around the house, unless, of course, you had to write an article by the end of the week and needed to get some material for it.

"Another pot of coffee it is," Sam said, rinsing out the pot and grabbing the can of coffee grounds.

"Clark?" Lois asked gently, walking into the living room and looking at her fiancé. She was surprised her father, or at least Jimmy, hadn't noticed just how much Clark looked like Superman without his glasses even with his eyes closed. "Wake up, Clark," she said, snapping her fingers close to his ear.

"What?" Clark said, sitting up on his elbows and looking around like he'd heard fire alarms going off. Lois laughed at him. "Jeez, you could've woken me up a bit more nicely. That was _loud_."

"Sorry, you were being stubborn," she said, handing him his glasses. He shoved the blankets off himself and kissed her cheek before turning towards the kitchen in search of breakfast. Lois took the opportunity to admire his biceps in the white t-shirt he wore to bed.

"Morning, CK," Jimmy said cheerily. He looked almost as ruffled as Clark; his hair was sticking up at odd angles and even though he'd been awake for a half hour his flannel pajamas were still hanging off him at odd angles.

"How can you sleep in flannel with this heat, Jimmy?" Lois asked. Despite the early hour, it was already edging toward uncomfortable on the thermometer; she'd already taken off the button up over shirt she'd fallen asleep in and was just wearing her tank top.

"I don't notice the heat… I'm asleep," Jimmy shrugged. Clark chuckled, thinking it would be the getting to sleep that would be the problem.

Once everybody had had their coffee and the runny oatmeal Sam had made, they headed out to learn about Lois's childhood for the day.

Lois and Clark walked in front, Lois telling stories about whatever came to memory and Clark listening dutifully. Jimmy walked behind, snapping pictures of things Lois pointed to and of Lois and Clark walking together. Sam was feeling like an outsider, but he wasn't showing it. The soldiers they passed soluted and let them through without question, but that seemed to be all he was good for in this situation; there wasn't much he could contribute to Lois's stories because he'd been on duty inside the buildings she was talking about passing every day on her way to a friend's house.

"Is there a school on base, or did you go to Metropolis High?" Clark asked after about a half an hour of walking around the base.

"There were never enough children on the base to have a school," Lois said with a shrug. "I went to Metropolis High with a couple of other military brats from around here."

"What happened to them?"

"Well," Lois said, thinking. "Johnny enlisted after high school, he's assigned in Germany, last I heard. Jack and Anna got married; they live a few miles away from our apartment. They have a daughter named Beth a few months younger than Jason."

"Are they around this week? They could probably tell some interesting stories, I bet."

"Half of which I'd prefer were never published."

"I'm sure," Clark laughed.

"Daddy, what's that building? Is it new?" Lois asked, pointing to a domed building near the center of the base.

"Oh, um, that's a new one," Sam said, looking at the dome. Clark tried to see into it, but realized it was made of lead, even the basement layers. "All the kryptonite that's been appearing in the city, we had to find a place for it to go. The dome is lead shielded so that it won't affect Superman if he flies over. We're actually trying to find ways to destroy the kryptonite that won't be harmful to anything but the kryptonite... and, Lo-lo, you can't print any of what I just told you."

"Of course not, Daddy," Lois said, glancing at Clark. He was withdrawn, thinking about the new information. "We wouldn't want all the criminals in Metropolis trying to break in to steal some kryptonite."

"Exactly," her father said before steering the conversation elseware.

They caught a cab to Metropolis High, home of the Bears as soon as the tour of the base was complete. The school was mostly locked down for the weekend. A few teachers had cars in the lot, but there weren't even security personnel at the front desk. Banners were hanging from the doorways from a recent pep rally.

"Lois Lane?" A voice asked from behind, making them all jump.

"Mrs. Sheppard?" Lois asked, spinning around. Clark spun around to see an elderly woman with gray hair going white and thin frames on her nose. She was carrying a file folder full of tests to be graded and English essays.

"I thought that was you," the elderly woman said with a smile. She put her folder down and gave Lois a hug. "What're you doing here? I haven't even seen you at reunions."

"Well, everything's been a bit… crazy," Lois said, glancing back at Clark. "Oh, um, Mrs. Sheppard, Clark Kent, Clark, this is Mrs. Sheppard, my twelfth grade English teacher."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Sheppard," Clark said, holding out his hand. "You must've taught her something right."

"I guess," she responded, shaking his hand.

"And this is Jimmy Olsen," Lois said, introducing him.

"So you three are the star team of the _Daily Planet_," Mrs. Sheppard said, smiling at them.

"I guess," Clark said smiling humbly.

"So what're you doing here?" Mrs. Sheppard asked, picking up the folders and started walking towards her office; the three of them followed along.

"The _Planet's_ been running background stories on all the writers," Jimmy said, looking excited. "These two have been so caught up in things lately that they're the last ones."

"So you're here chasing a story?"

"Kind of," Lois shrugged.

"A student actually did a report on you recently, Lois," Mrs. Sheppard said, shuffling through a drawer. "She found some old records here, too. Found your old locker, got really excited when she found out I'd had you as a student."

"That's kind of… weird."

"It's what we do in high school English classes," Mrs. Sheppard reminded her. "They write about people they want to be like. The girl who wrote it is actually the editor for the school paper here. She's quite good."

"Can't say I miss the high school life," Lois said, looking around the classroom. "The melodrama, the rules..."

"As if your life isn't still dramatic," Jimmy said with a laugh, taking the report on Lois from her hands and beginning to read.

"Yeah, well, now the drama is about catching the next big scoop and getting interviews with Superman, not who made the cheerleading squad and who's asking who to the next dance."

"Ah yes, I saw your heroic efforts in the park the other day," Mrs. Sheppard said, sounding like she'd been hoping the conversation would turn towards Superman. "How is Superman doing?"

"He's fine, you know him," Lois shrugged. "He flew away five minutes after we got him out of there."

They moved on as quickly as possible. Lois was a little creeped out by the report on her, and Mrs. Sheppard wasn't willing to talk about much other than Lois's relationship with Superman. Jimmy poked fun at her about it for a minute before she threatened to lock him in a locker.

"Let's see," Lois said, looking around. "This school hasn't changed a bit."

After walking around the empty school for a few hours, they headed to the closest burger joint for lunch. Lois actually found more memories at the burger joint than in the high school. There were footprints set in the cement of the parking lot; Lois's and her sister's from the day they'd poured the parking lot and the pair of them had run through it on the way to the beach before realizing the cement was wet. Though it had been many years ago, nobody had thought to fill the footprints in.

"I guess I don't have very many memories in one place," Lois said later that evening when the three of them were going through the scrapbooks in her bedroom.

"What do you mean?" Clark asked.

"I was a military brat; we moved all over the place until I started high school here," she shrugged. "I was born in New Jersey, said my first words on a plane moving from New Jersey to San Diego, took my first steps on the base in San Diego while some Navy Seals were watching me; my parents weren't even there…" she handed him the scrapbook open to a page covered in pictures of a baby Lois surrounded by burly guys with kind faces. "Elementary school was on the base somewhere in Europe. Middle school was back in the states, Washington D.C. for part, and then South Dakota. Dad finally got promoted and we ended up here for the rest of high school. Mom died during my freshman year; just when we'd gotten the stability she'd been asking for since she married my dad…" The scrapbook was now open to a spread that had her mother's obituary and a few photos from the funeral. Lois had a tear in her eye, but she desperately tried to hide it from the men in the room.


	8. Chapter 8

- - - **Chapter Eight**

The rest of their week went by without any mishaps. It was unusually quiet in Metropolis, meaning Clark didn't have to disappear nearly as often as he'd been expecting to. The criminals of the world seemed to be taking a breather; or it could be the quiet before the storm. Kryptonite had stopped appearing in warehouses, but the removal effort was taking longer than expected. The military was in charge of emptying the warehouses and bringing it to the base Lois, Clark, and Jimmy were staying at; this meant quite a few headaches for Clark when they happened to pass a truck carrying a load of the stuff.

Dinner with Jason, Perry on Wednesday was entirely uneventful. Perry gave Clark a few weird looks when Jason called him Daddy, and when Clark didn't trip over the usual amount of things, or spill anything until after dinner. Jason was a good enough distraction from Clark's lack of Clark-ness. He would be the first to notice when Perry was getting suspicious, and would quickly ask for help retrieving the crayon he'd just lost under the couch, and by lost he meant chucked under there so he'd have a reason to call for Perry.

Lucy and Ron visited the base on Saturday night for dinner. Jimmy went photo-crazy, getting as many pictures as he could of Lois and Lucy, occasionally one with the general in it as well. This left Clark and Ron to escape to the back yard after dinner. It was a pleasant night, a little windy and completely clouded over, but it was still a little too warm for a normal human's taste. The meteorologists had predicted a whopper of a storm coming up this weekend, quite a change from the mild rainfall they'd been predicting at the beginning of the week.

"So you and Lois, huh?" Ron asked after a moment of silence, the pair of them staring at the clouds, or in Clark's case, through the clouds.

"Yup," Clark said, shrugging. Ron had left the _Planet_ sometime while Clark was playing intergalactic explorer, but he was still up on office gossip.

"It's about time, from what I've heard."

"Well," Clark reddened, he didn't really want to talk about the whole impregnate, leave, return situation. He'd been friends to Ron before he'd left, but not as close as a friend as he was with Jimmy or even Perry. "So… what've you been up to since we last talked?"

"Well, that gives me a couple _years_ to cover," Ron smirked, thinking for a moment. "I'm officially a stay at home Dad, we've got four kids now. We got our neighbor to watch them tonight; we needed a break," he smirked. Clark couldn't imagine ever needing a break from Jason. "Lucy's still a flight attendant so she's busy with that. She loves it. We moved out to the suburbs about three years ago now, when our second was born."

"You guys have been busy," Clark smiled. Lucy and Ron had had their first child barely nine months after their wedding, their second a little over a year later. Two years passed, and then they'd had twins. Despite Ron's talk of needing a break, the pair of them literally lit up whenever they talked about their children. Ron had a faint smile on his face now, and Clark could tell he was toning it down.

"Four kids keep you busy," he shrugged. "Especially the twins. They're going to be one in a month. I can't believe they're already a year old…" he was smiling and wistful.

Clark had to fight back his own emotions. He'd missed all of what Ron was talking about. He'd missed Lois's pregnancy, he'd missed Jason's birth, he'd missed the first words, the first steps, the first _five_ birthdays… he'd missed most of Jason's firsts.

His thoughts were broken a moment later when the first raindrops fell onto the sidewalk in front of them. Lightening flashed and thunder clapped, and then the rain was falling in earnest; soaking the two men to the core before they could move. Clark sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration and turned back towards the sliding glass door. The pair of them jogged back to the house, wondering how they'd gotten so far from the door in their leisurely stroll into the yard.

"Bit wet out there, boys?" Sam asked, smirking at the two who were, or would be his sons-in-law. Lois and Lucy entered the room behind him, smiling at the fathers of their children.

"I've never seen anything start that fast!" Ron said, pulling his soaking t-shirt away from his skin and flapping it a few times, sending droplets of water all over the living room. Sam gave him a disapproving look and Clark just shook his head, a few strands of his hair falling back onto his forehead from where they'd been stuck to his head. Lois looked almost panicked when she realized what his hair was doing, but he was looking back out at the rain and not at her.

With a sigh, Ron pulled his shirt completely off and walked into the kitchen, throwing the soaking item of clothing into the sink. "Can I borrow a few dry items, Clark?" Ron asked, somewhat self consciously.

"Sure," Clark said, pulling off his own shirt and tossing it in the sink. He was glad that he'd opted to leave the suit in his suitcase that afternoon. It was too hot to tell his family that he was fine in a long sleeved shirt, and the air against his skin felt nice. He adjusted his glasses and finally turned to look at Lois, noticing her panicked expression.

He glanced in the mirror hanging above the sink and immediately realized what she was so worried about. His hair had assumed its usual style, usual for Superman, anyways. His lack of a shirt and the amount of muscle his shirts usually hid didn't help keeping his secret either. He ran a hand through his hair again, messing it up into a more Clark-like style before hurrying towards the stairs; his suitcase was stashed in Lois's bedroom. Lois still looked nervous when he passed her, but the other members of her family didn't seem too phased by his resemblance to a certain superhero. Jimmy, on the other hand, was staring at Clark in confused disbelief.

"Work out much?" Ron laughed behind him, running a hand through his own hair before following Clark up the stairs. Lois and Clark could only offer weak laughs back, Clark smiling goofily for Jimmy's sake.

The pair of them descended the stairs again two minutes later. Ron came down first, wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of Clark's pajama bottoms; Ron was a big guy, but Clark's clothes hung loosely around him. Clark was wearing the pajama bottoms he'd worn to bed the night before, and a t-shirt that read 'shirt happens' in bold black letters.

"Give me your wet stuff," Lucy ordered, holding out her hands like she did whenever her children came back inside after playing in the snow. She already had the t-shirts out of the sink and was headed for the laundry room.

"Thanks, Lu," Ron said, pecking her cheek and handing her all the wet clothes.

Clark crossed the room without a word, eyes on Lois. She still looked worried, but not as much as she had a few minutes ago. Clark looked sufficiently Clark-like despite the out-of-character (at least as far as anybody besides Lois or Jason knew) t-shirt. He sat on one end of the couch with Lois, asking softly if she thought anybody had noticed his hair's bad habit.

"Jimmy did, but…" Lois shrugged. Clark glanced at Jimmy and smiled broadly when he noticed the younger man was watching him carefully. _Should've tripped on my way up the stairs,_ he thought to himself. He hadn't been as careful as he should've been over the past couple of days. He'd relaxed, getting to know Lois and her dad really well through all the stories they were exchanging. He'd almost forgotten that Jimmy had been there with them. Of course, Jimmy was his friend and he'd spent almost as much time talking to him in the past week as he had spent talking to Sam, but with Sam he had no trouble stuttering; his future father-in-law made him nervous. Jimmy, on the other hand, was a friend and Clark had to remind himself to stutter and trip and knock things over; he'd managed to remember that night a dinner due to the presence of Ron and Lucy, and he'd made quite a fool of himself. That was half the reason his 'shirt happens' shirt was the last clean t-shirt left in his bag.

Silence hung in the air.

"Wow, it's really coming down out there," Clark commented. The rain had come as a sudden downpour, but the wind had picked up and now the droplets were crashing against the sliding glass door, making it vibrate. There wasn't an inch of ground outside that was soaked through; the worms were making their way to the surface for air. Clark smiled and watched the rain fall, glad that he didn't have to fly in it.

"I wonder how Superman feels about this type of weather," Jimmy asked, looking at Ron instead of Clark, though his eyes were drifting in the couple on the couch's direction.

"Well, he's invulnerable, right?" Clark asked, shrugging. "It couldn't hurt if he got a few raindrops in his eyes."

"It'd sure be wet to be up with them clouds," Sam said, standing by the glass door and looking up at the clouds. Clark suppressed the smile that was trying to spread across his face. He usually just didn't deal with the weather; he'd fly _above_ the clouds.

The rest of the group discussed it for awhile, alternating between the news and the weather channel. Jason called shortly before eight to say goodnight. Less than a half an hour later, Ron and Lucy left for their own home in suburbia on the other side of Metropolis.

"Good to see you again, Clark, Lois, Jimmy," Ron said, shaking Jimmy and Clark's hands and giving Lois and hug. "Thanks for letting me borrow your PJs," he smiled; they had only stayed as late as they did because his clothes had been in the dryer. Not that they weren't just as wet as they had been the moment he stepped over the threshold.

"Bye, Lu," Lois said, hugging her sister. "Bye! Congratulations, you two. I'll see you around!"

"Bye, Lucy," Clark said, getting a hug from her. Lois had stepped at little closer at the mention of being around, but only Clark noticed. The other couple said goodbye to Sam and Jimmy before pulling their coats over their heads and running for the car. "Glad we don't have to go out tonight," he commented.

"Agreed," Lois and Jimmy both responded.

They spent another evening on the couch. Clark was actually starting to get nervous at the lack of disasters, big or small, on the news. The sports section spread out to fill the time; sports commentators always could fill the airwaves.

"So what is your plan for tomorrow? What time does the plane leave for Kansas?" Sam asked, finally getting bored when they started talking about the high school athlete of the month.

"Well, the plain leaves at four, but we'll be out of your hair by noon," Clark said. Sam raised his eyebrows, running a hand over his bald patch, Clark turned a little pinker.

"We'll be having lunch with Perry and Jason," Lois said, ignoring her father's behavior. He wasn't sensitive at all about his bald spot, but he pretended to be so that people around him would walk on egg shells; he found it amusing. "What were your plans, Jimmy? Were you going to come to lunch with us or did you have something else in mind?"

"Oh, um, actually I have to get back to my apartment before we head out. Take my girlfriend out to lunch before I leave the state," he shrugged.

"You have a girlfriend?" Lois asked, sounding surprised but not rude. "Why didn't you tell us about her?"

"It never came up," Jimmy said, blushing slightly.

"So… what's her name?" Clark asked when Jimmy fell silent.

"Gabriella Marshall," he said with a smile. Lois and Clark were smiling at him too.

"I'd love to meet her sometime," Lois said. She'd invite him to bring her to lunch with Perry and Jason but she suspected the pair of them would want to spend some time together.

- - -

"Mommy! Daddy!" Jason shouted when Perry opened the door, revealing his two employees. Jason was across the room in a flash, hugging them both at the same time.

"Hi, Jason," Lois said, smiling and kissing his cheek. She entered the house, putting the umbrella in the umbrella stand and taking off her long coat carefully so it wouldn't splash water everywhere. Clark set Jason down, removing his own coat with a little less grace, but he didn't get any water anywhere either.

"What've you been up to all week?" Clark asked, following Jason and Perry into the living room. Jason's crayon drawings were spread out over the coffee table, and a few board games were stacked on a table behind the couch.

"I colored, and we played Candyland and we started to play Monopoly but that got boring, then we played Sorry, and we played Checkers and I beat Uncle Perry! He says he's going to teach me chess next week," Jason was smiling widely, showing his mother his drawings while he talked about all the other activities. "And I went to school and we talked about rocks on Wednesday and it was boring. And Mrs. Peterson says to remind you that you signed up for my conference to be on the Tuesday after next."

"Boy those are coming up fast," Lois said, glancing at Clark. It would be the first conference he attended as Jason's father, and he was looking pensive.

"So how's he been, Chief?" Clark asked, walking with Perry into the kitchen to bring drinks out to Lois and Jason.

"He's been fine," Perry said, shrugging. "I don't know what the pair of you were so worried about. He knows when to take what medicine, and he hasn't needed his inhaler at all. He hasn't even put up a fuss when I put him to bed!"

"Wow, munchkin, you've been great!" Lois said.

"Yup," Jason shrugged. He was a good kid even when they didn't ask him to be.

They ordered in for lunch, getting delivery from the same Chinese place they'd bumped into each other a week ago. Jason kept conversation flowing, telling his parents all about his week away from them and what he was planning to do with his next week of 'freedom.'

After lunch, Lois, Clark, and Jason went to the zoo to give Perry a short break. Clark had never been there before on paid admission. He'd been on hand as Superman when a little girl had fallen into the gorilla enclosure when the gorillas were having a particularly bad day, and Superman had been there to help the elephants back into their enclosure after they'd broken through the fence at a weak spot and become very confused to be out of the familiar.

The three of them walked around, Jason giving them the tour as he'd been there recently with his class. He made sure to bring them past the gorilla and elephant enclosures to show them the photo spreads they had of Superman dealing with the animals. Clark turned a humble shade of pink when he noticed them, and Lois poked him in the ribs playfully.

The gorillas were throwing tufts of grass around the yard. A peculiar amount of them seemed to be landing against the wall below the three of them. "I think they recognize you," Lois commented, smirking. "Should we go back to the elephants, at least they seemed to like you…?" Clark just smiled back at her innocently and allowed Jason to drag him along to wherever they were headed next.

They returned to Perry's house to find the man sound asleep on his couch. Jason was teaming with energy. He'd been in the direct sunlight, filtered by only a few thin clouds, all afternoon and it had a noticeable affect on him. Clark was high spirited himself, but he didn't feel the need to bounce around the yard, attempt to climb the big tree in the corner, or talk a mile a minute while they waited for the phone to wake Perry (they'd called when the knocking hadn't worked).

"Definitely your son," Lois said, shaking her head. Clark smiled broadly, so broadly, in fact, that Lois wondered if she should press his cheeks back in so that they didn't fall off. Her musings were interrupted when Perry opened his door, looking confused.

"Oh," was all he said, turning around and walking back into his house.

"Have you not been sleeping, Chief?" Lois asked, looking at her boss carefully. He looked okay, no dark circles under his eyes or anything, but he didn't look so well-rested either.

"Course I have, Lane," he said gruffly. "I was in the middle of the REM cycle, course I look a bit fuzzy," he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of cold coffee. The other two adults in the house wrinkled their noses when he downed it in two gulps.

"Do you have to leave now?" Jason asked, suddenly looking sad.

"Yes, Jason," Lois said sadly. "We have to leave now so that we have time to pick up Jimmy on the way to the airport."

"Why can't I come visit Gramma Martha with you?"

"You have school in the morning," Clark reminded him gently.

"Oh yeah," Jason said, plopping down on the couch and looking at the crayon drawings spread across the coffee table. "Will you bring her some pictures I drew?"

"Of course," Clark said, joining his son on the couch and helping make selections.

"You sure you don't have anything I can write while you have me trapped in the middle of nowhere?" She asked. Clark looked up long enough to glare at her, and Perry chuckled.

"You _are_ working on a story there, Lane," Perry reminded her. "Kent, make sure you get a picture of Jimmy trying to ride a horse… you do have horses, right?"

"Yeah, we have two," he said, taking the drawings his son had chosen. "Betsy and Thor."

"Betsy and Thor?"

"That's what the neighbor kids decided their names were," Clark shrugged.

"Will we have to meet the neighbor kids?"

"The neighbor kids live almost two miles away," Clark said, raising an eyebrow. "And the kids are grown and now live in California, I believe. Their parents rent out their barn, land, and pastures."

"You keep up with the town gossip?" Perry asked, surprised.

"I get the _Smallville Gazette_," he said. "There isn't much news in Smallville so they end up reporting just about everything." Perry shook his head, refraining from commenting on the paper.

Jimmy looked exhausted when they arrived at his apartment less than ten minutes later. "Jimmy, you okay?" Clark asked, grabbing one of the younger man's bags for him.

"I'm fine, CK, just didn't sleep very well last night."

The look on his face told them not to ask questions. The spent the ride to the airport alternating between meaningless bits of small talk, and almost awkward silences. They made it through all the airport security without any problems, and took their seats. Lois smiled at Clark, noticing how nervous he looked about the flight.

"Not really used to have a machine with you when you're in the air, huh?" She asked while Jimmy was struggling to put his carry-on in the overhead compartment.

"Not really," Clark admitted, glancing out the window.

"That's right, you don't like flying, do you, CK?" Jimmy asked, smiling at him. Clark just shook his head, making sure his face was uncomfortable instead of breaking into the large grin that was threatening to overtake him. _It's only my favorite thing in the world._ He thought to himself, noticing that Lois was doing nothing to hide her own huge grin.

Clark had to remind himself not to grip the arm rests too tight more than once on the flight. He'd flown in a plane once before, but he had been young and hadn't perfected his own flying yet; he wasn't used to turbulence at all. He found Lois gripping his elbow more than once when a particularly violent bout of turbulence shook the plane.

"Clark, you're either going to break the arm rests, or your going to start steadying the plane with that grip, and I'm not sure which is worse," she smiled. Clark made himself let go of the poor things and folded his hands in his lap tensely.

Lois actually found herself chuckling when they landed. Clark was leaning back in his seat, gripping the arm rests again. She was content to watch him almost panic until she felt the plain's decent slow unnaturally. "Clark!" She whispered. Glancing at the arm rests she noticed that they were beginning to bend backward as Clark took on the weight of the plane through them.

"Uh," he said, snapping out of it and fixing the arm rests. He didn't say anything until they were at the baggage claim and Jimmy asked how long of a drive it was from the airport to Smallville. "Um, a little less than an hour," he said.

"Hopefully you do better with the car than with the plane," Lois muttered under her breath so that Clark was the only one to hear her. He shot her a glance and smiled slightly but didn't say anything.

They stood in line for a half an hour to get a rental car. Clark mumbled something about just flying home and grabbing the car and bringing it over for them to drive, but Lois elbowed him in the gut before he could seriously consider taking to the skies. They ended up with a Taurus. It was very shiny and blue, but Clark knew the color wouldn't last long in the heat and dust of the farm.

"So what's with you two today?" Jimmy asked as they pulled onto the highway. Clark was driving after he'd beat Lois three for three at rock-paper-scissors.

"What do you mean?" Lois asked almost defensively.

"Well, you're just being… I dunno, kind of weird," Jimmy shrugged from the back seat, and Clark examined him carefully in the rear view mirror. "You're laughing a lot," he pointed at Clark, "and Lois keeps mumbling…"

"I hadn't noticed," Clark responded, stifling a chuckle as Lois mumbled something about how her mumbled conversation to him was making her look insane.

They drove past the silver mailbox with 'Kent' painted on it in bold, black letters about forty-five minutes later. Clark turned down the driveway, and Lois made the appropriate comments about his driveway being lined by tall stalks of corn.

"Ah, but we have the freshest corn on the cob you could want all summer," he said with a smile. Jimmy laughed at that.


	9. Chapter 9

- - - **Chapter Nine**

Martha was in the barn when they arrived. She had been baking all day in preparation for their arrival and was just now taking the time to feed the horses.

"Mom?" Clark called, hopping out of the car and popping the trunk.

"Clark? Here so soon?" Martha called from the barn. She was wearing jeans and comfortable, well worn shoes, her hair pulled back in the customary bun at the nape of her neck. She pulled off the leather work gloves to hug her son. Clark towered over her and it only became more obvious when she was so close.

"It's almost eight o' clock," Clark said, raising an eyebrow. His mother just shrugged, pulling away to be introduced to the two guests. "Oh, this is Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane," he said pointing to each of them in turn even though it wasn't necessary. "Guys, this is my mother, Martha Kent."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Kent," Jimmy said, holding out his hand, which Martha shook.

"Mrs. Kent," Lois said, shaking her hand as well.

"Call me Martha," she instructed them both, and they nodded. "Well, let's not just stand here," she smiled and grabbed a suitcase out of the trunk. "I've got Clark's old room and the guest room all made up for you three… we can just put the bags on the stair for now, though. There's apple pie and tea waiting for us in the kitchen."

They each grabbed their own bags, Clark taking Lois's so she could close the trunk and then hold the door open for the rest. "You didn't have to make dessert, Mom," Clark said after they were inside.

"So?" Martha responded, pulling a knife out to slice the dessert, the same knife Clark had bent against his fingers almost a year ago.

- - -

After an awkward moment when assigning sleeping arrangements, they all settled down for the night. Jimmy ended up in Clark's old bedroom, looking at the strange glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, while Clark and Lois shared the guest bedroom. Martha didn't make quite so big of a scene when she noticed the ring of Lois's finger, but she was rather offended that she hadn't gotten phone call within thirty seconds of the engagement.

"We were waiting to tell you in person," Lois said quietly. In truth, they'd forgotten entirely about alerting anybody outside of the people they saw every day in the excitement of their lives.

"I've yet to meet my grandson," Martha told them, giving them a look. Lois blanched, _How much does Martha know? How much does she think _I_ know?_ Of course, Martha was asking the same questions.

"Would you care to come shopping with me, Lois?" Martha asked after a hearty farm breakfast the next morning. "I'm sure Clark and Jimmy can handle the morning chores…"

"Sure, I'd be glad to," Lois said, hoping for a chance to talk to her future mother-in-law. Jimmy paled slightly at the mention of morning chores, and Clark just started running water in the sink for dishes.

"Here, Jimmy," he said after the women had left. "You wash the breakfast dishes, and I'll go out to the barn and take care of stuff out there."

"Sounds good, CK," Jimmy said; dishes he could handle. Clark walked out to the barn and took care of what needed to be done at super-speed. There wasn't much left, anyways. He and Martha had been up with the sun, as usual, and had gotten a good start on things before their guests had started their morning showers.

"So…" Martha said once they were alone.

"So," Lois said, taking a deep breath. "Did Clark tell you Jason was his son…?"

"No," Martha said, smiling at the thought of her grandson. "I was in the crowd when… when the two of you visited him in the hospital," she paused to look at the woman beside her who had paled slightly at the mention of that visit. "A grandmother recognizes her grandchild."

"If I'd known who you were… I'm sorry you couldn't go see him," Lois said quietly.

"It's all right. He has secrets and I've kept them his entire life. He's alright and that's all that matters," she smiled warmly again. "I'm glad he finally told you who he is."

"Only when he couldn't avoid it anymore," Lois laughed. "Richard… Richard kicked Jason and me out of his house and Clark took us in. He was having trouble explaining his disappearances."

"He was never very good at coming up with excuses."

"Thinking back, they're kind of funny," Lois said.

"Sometimes."

"Um, we set a date for the wedding," Lois said after a minute. They were approaching the town quickly now that they had left the driveway. "May 20th."

"May 20th?"

"Yes," Lois shrugged.

"Where is it going to be?"

"We're not sure yet, we haven't actually planned it yet… we still have all winter."

"The winter will fly by."

"I know," Lois shrugged again. "We decided we want to have it in Metropolis, but that's about as far as we got."

"Who _have_ you told about this?" Martha asked as they pulled into the grocery store parking lot.

"Well, the office knows, and my Dad knows. Jimmy kind of told him last week when we were staying with him to do my half of the article… He took Clark for a drive and dropped him off right outside the base limits- my Dad's an Army General, we stayed on base with him last week."

"He dropped Clark off…?"

"Yeah, he wasn't very happy. He's always been a bit protective and he didn't like finding out we were engaged before he knew we were together," she smiled. "Clark talked him around, though."

"Does he… does he know Clark's secret?" Martha asked. They were now walking down the produce aisle.

"No, neither does Jimmy," Lois said. "My Dad is really good at only seeing what's put directly in front of him. Jimmy, on the other hand… he's suspicious."

"He's a reporter."

"Photographer," Lois corrected.

"Well, anyways, I promise not to leave you at the grocery store," Martha said, the cheery warmth Clark had always described of his mother filtering into her features.

"I appreciate that."

- - -

"Clark?" Jimmy had finished the dishes and come out into the barn to find his friend.

"Up here," Clark called down from his loft. Martha hadn't moved things very much at all. His telescope was still pointing out the, closed, window, the table was scattered with old papers and photographs, and the bookshelves were packed with just as many books as he'd had when he left. There were a few new blankets on the couch, evidence that Martha had sat there recently. Clark scanned the loft quickly as Jimmy made his way up the stairs; if anything was suspicious the photographer would be sure to notice it. But there was nothing, just stuff.

"What is this place?"

"It's the loft…" Clark said, looking around with 'what else would it be' written on his face.

"The loft?"

"Yeah- we used to store hay and stuff up here, but I kind of took it over in middle school," he shrugged.

"Cool."

"Yeah," he started going through the bookcase.

"No chores left?"

"Nope."

"Good."

"Yeah."

"What do you think Lois and your Mom are talking about?"

"I don't know…" he said, tilting his head and listening across town. "Probably Jason," he added quieter. "Or the wedding."

"You hadn't told her either?"

"We hadn't really told anybody but you guys at work," Clark shrugged again. "Didn't even think about it until we ended up on the base."

"Yeah…"

They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Clark remembered something, "Hey, Perry told me to get a picture of you trying to ride a horse."

"Oh, let's not."

"Oh, let's," Clark said, grinning wickedly and going down the stairs to find Betsy, the gentler of the two horses.

Lois and Martha returned almost an hour later to find Jimmy perched nervously atop the horse, and Clark snapping a few photographs. "Can I get down now? I think I've been humiliated enough for one day…" He asked just as Betsy shifted her feet. Jimmy immediately leaned low over her back, clutching at the saddle and reins. Clark laughed heartily, taking Betsy's reins so that Jimmy might relax enough to get off the horse.

"Sure," Clark said, grinning at his mother and fiancé as they got out of the truck. He'd never seen somebody so thankful to be back on the ground, and he'd taken a few reluctant people much higher than the back of a horse.

"Do you ride, Clark?" Lois asked, grabbing a bag of groceries from the back seat before turning to look at him.

"Yeah," Clark said, leading the horse back into the barn.

"There was one point when we thought he was going to join the rodeo, but then…" Martha caught herself, glancing at Jimmy and shrugging to cover herself. It would've been hard for Clark to be in the rodeo if he never got hurt. Lois seemed to have followed the sentence to the same conclusion, and just nodded her head.

"I can't imagine Clark at a rodeo," Jimmy said, coming over to them, still looking a bit uncomfortable.

"You'd be surprised what Clark's got in him," Martha said with a smile, bringing the bag of groceries she'd taken from the car into the house, Lois following behind. Jimmy just shook his head, still unable to imagine Clark even on a horse.

- - -

Jimmy quickly got an idea of just how much Clark had in him. Not only did Clark wake up at hours much too early for even his mother, he got all the farm chores done in less than an hour; a feet he'd heard was next to impossible, according to all the books about farmers he'd ever read. Clark never even seemed tired, and Jimmy knew he wasn't getting much sleep. Jimmy himself was exhausted living on the modified version of the farmer's schedule he and Lois had adopted.

As it was, he flopped onto Clark's old bed as the sun was setting, completely exhausted. The first night there he'd wondered about the weird constellations and the single red dot that patterned the ceiling, but he never remembered to ask during that first day, he'd been too busy worrying about the horse, and now he was too tired to remember when he woke up.

Tuesday night was just like any other. He pulled on the flannel pajama pants he'd taken to sleeping in, it was too hot for the usual flannel shirt, and fell into bed. The window was right next to his bed, and he closed his eyes against the fading sunlight that managed to seep in around the curtain. He was asleep before he could think of pulling the shade down further.

He woke in the dark of night, he couldn't make out the arms on the old fashioned clock in Clark's room, so he just went for 'late.' Now what had woken him up? He wasn't even close to fully rested. Then he heard the voices from the yard below.

"Clark?!" Lois's voice was panicked and Jimmy immediately jumped towards the window, deciding to peek down at them through the crack under the shade. If it wasn't serious, he'd just close the window, even if it cut off what little breeze there was, and go back to sleep. What he saw down on the dirt and rock driveway was enough to keep him peeking.

Superman was coming in for a landing, looking tired and completely covered in blood. Lois ran into view, keeping her distance from him, but Jimmy could tell even from his distance and position that she was terrified for him. Martha followed her out a few seconds later, completely silent with a hand over her mouth.

"Clark, what happened?" Lois's voice came up to his window, and Superman just shook his head. _Wait. Clark? Did she call Superman Clark?_

"Clark?" Martha's shaky voice made it up to his widow finally.

"I'm okay, it's not my blood," Superman said, but neither of the women believed him. Martha disappeared for a moment and then came back into view with a towel.

"Where are you hurt?" She asked, taking his hands first and carefully wiping some of the blood away.

"Mom," Superman said, pulling his hands away. "It's not my blood… A building collapsed and a man's artery was cut by some debris. I had to carry him to the hospital to get him help in time; he was bleeding all over," Superman's face was written with sorrow.

"Was he alright?" Lois asked, taking the towel from Martha when the older woman seemed to want to start rubbing the blood away again.

"He didn't make it to the hospital… he was bleeding too much… it was all over," both women on the driveway looked like they would've hugged him if he weren't completely covered in blood.

"You're sure you're okay?" Martha asked again. Superman smiled and disappeared for a moment, then Jimmy heard the hose come to life. Superman appeared after a few minutes, coming and taking the bloody towel away from Lois to rub some of the water out of his hair with the clean side.

"I'm fine, Mom," Superman said. Martha finally seemed to relax.

Jimmy sat back from the window, playing the scene below in his head again and again. _Is Clark really Superman?_ He asked himself. He'd suspected for awhile, especially now during these two weeks so close to him, but… It was one thing to suspect, something entirely different to know. He looked through the crack under the shade again and realized they'd all gone inside.

He considered going downstairs for a moment. But what would he do? Confront them? Would it be Clark or Superman sitting at the kitchen table drinking the tea Martha always made for her son? Jimmy sighed and realized that Superman, or Clark, could probably see through the floor and would know he was awake. _What if he knows I know? Why didn't they tell me before? This is so confusing._

Burying his curiosity for the moment, Jimmy lay back down in bed and looked at the ceiling again; for the first time since they'd arrived he couldn't get his brain to rest. Of course, now the red dot on the ceiling made sense, at least.

- - -

Jimmy woke the next morning feeling as though he'd never gone to sleep. He'd had the weirdest dream. Of course, as his dreams usually went, he couldn't remember it very clearly. It had had something to do with Clark, or Superman, or both. And there was blood on a towel in Martha's hands, and the sound of a hose pumping water. The images in his mind were so concrete that they could've actually happened, but…

"Morning Jimmy!" Clark said cheerily, letting the screen door slam behind him as he entered the house. Jimmy glowered at him. It was obvious Clark had already been up for a number of hours, and that meant that he'd already had coffee, which meant he was set for the day.

"Morning CK," Jimmy responded groggily, still pondering over the dream he'd had.

"Sleep well?" Clark asked.

"Sure," Jimmy answered, running a hand through his hair and looking for a clean coffee mug. Clark handed him one already full of steaming coffee and Jimmy thanked him with his eyes while he gulped the hot brew down. Clark seemed to take pity on him after a moment.

"Just four more days, Jimmy," he said with a smile. Jimmy refilled his coffee cup.

"Clark, come kill the tractor, would you?" Martha shouted from the barn. He smiled at Jimmy one more time before walking out and letting the screen door slam again. Lois entered the room after that, looking barely more rested than Jimmy.

"What's Clark killing?" She asked, taking the fresh mug he offered her.

"Tractor," Jimmy mumbled, opening the microwave to see what Martha had put on hold for them inside. "Ooh," he said, warming up the food inside and bringing the plates out to show Lois. "Pancakes… real pancakes."

"I don't think I've had pancakes from scratch since… I don't know," she pulled the syrup out of the cabinet and squirted it over her stack, thankful, for once, not to have to be a good example. Jimmy smiled, and followed her not so good example.

"I'm glad you like my cooking," Martha said, walking in and catching the door with her foot so it didn't bang.

"Why is Clark killing the tractor?" Lois asked between bites.

"It broke again," Martha shrugged and sighed tiredly. "It's old; wearing down. I never seem to be able to fix it quite as well as Clark. Ben can't even do it, and he's been around tractors longer than Clark."

"Who's Ben?" Jimmy asked.

"He lives down the road," Martha said, "you might meet him tomorrow if you're up early enough when he delivers more of his zucchini."

There was a rumble from the garage and a bang. Clark stumbled out a minute later, coughing and waving a hand around for a moment before glancing back at the house. Martha shifted herself so that she blocked the window entirely; keeping Jimmy blind to the events going on outside. Winking at her, Clark inhaled deeply and blew away the smoke before walking back into the barn with his shoulders set.

"What's going on out there?"

"Clark's losing," Martha said, rolling her eyes. "Might be time for a new tractor…"

Jimmy walked out onto the porch after breakfast and found himself rooted to the spot when he noticed the spot on the driveway near the hose where the dirt was darker, like it had been wet recently and hadn't quite dried all the way through. It was also just red enough to be noticed.

"What happened there?" He asked, trying to sound only politely interested.

"Dunno," Clark said, glancing at the spot and shrugging. Jimmy was inclined to believe him, but something about his face made him doubt. Instead of commenting, Jimmy just nodded and climbed into the truck behind Lois; the three of them were heading into town for awhile so Martha could have a little time to herself, she wasn't used to having so many people around.

As Clark drove he noticed how closely Jimmy was watching him, had been watching him, really, all day. It had started after he'd come in from fixing the tractor. He didn't look the way Clark normally looked, he'd reverted to the same outfit he'd worn the first night he'd been properly awake after his return, jeans and a white t-shirt with his favorite well-worn tan jacket. He didn't like to trip over things when he was at home, but he'd been making an effort to be more klutzy around his friend, even if it meant sending sawdust all over the barn or spilling his coffee all over himself. He was used to cleaning things up by now anyways. He'd also taken to stuttering a lot more than necessary, usually followed by apologetic glances to his mother and Lois as soon as Jimmy looked away. They both understood why he was dipping into his Clark Kent persona, but it was annoying to have to follow his stutters when they knew he could talk perfectly fine.

"What's up, Jimmy?" He finally asked after he caught the younger guy staring at his eyes in the rearview mirror.

"What?"

"You-you've been looking at me weird all day."

"Oh, sorry…"

The rest of the ride passed silently, Lois and Jimmy dedicating themselves to the view out the window, and Clark focusing on the road. The sun was just beginning to reach the horizon, the sky tinted orange and red, the corn reflecting gold. "Now I get why you like it here so much," Lois said when they were getting out of the truck.

"Sunsets and sunrises," Clark said wistfully. Lois moved close, grabbing his hand and wondering silently how many wonderful sights he'd seen. He had the capacity to travel the world and see as many sunsets or sunrises as he wanted over any city or landscape in the world; yet he chose Smallville, Kansas. Home of corn… and cows. And his mother, she reasoned.

"Let's see," Jimmy said a little sarcastically, looking down Main Street. "A bowling alley, a coffee shop, a bar, a barber shop, a movie theater, another bar… small town."

"Welcome to Smallville," Clark said, smiling.

"In Metropolis there's at least five of those within three blocks of each other," Jimmy said, sounded offended.

"Small town," Lois reminded him.

But the small town was coming alive. There were trucks pulling into parking lots all over. Teenagers were appearing out of the woodwork, flooding into the movie theater and coffee shop. A few even went into the bar, coming out a within the minute and looking embarrassed. Adults were disappearing into the bars, or joining groups of younger people going bowling or to the theater. Lois tried to imagine a teenage version of Clark walking with the packs into the coffee shop.

"Where do you want to go?" Clark asked, praying Jimmy didn't suggest the theater.

"What's good?" Lois asked.

"Um. If we go into the bars you're going to get an earful about this season's crop, whatever corn or soybeans are selling for today, or the fact that you're not from around here. The bowling alley is going to be loud and smoky. I went to high school with the woman that owns the coffee shop. And the barber shop doesn't get much action this time of night," he shrugged.

"I could do with some real coffee," Lois said, tugging Clark's hand toward the shop. It was already filling up. Clark followed a little reluctantly, not sure how his history with one Lana Lang would affect this visit. Jimmy just followed silently, still thinking about his dream and the things he'd been noticing in the course of the past few weeks.

"Clark _Kent_?!" A voice came from behind him as he was about to sit down. Instead, he turned around slowly, careful not to knock anything over.

"Lana," he said, hugging her back gently when she threw her arms around him.

"Where did you disappear to?" Lana asked, sweeping her dark hair out of her eyes casually and looking up at the taller man. "I haven't seen you since right after high school! Not even at the reunions… you haven't changed a bit, you know," she said, looking him up and down. He was just as tall and broad as she remembered, the dorky glasses he'd added soon after their graduation were still in place; he was even wearing the farmboy-style clothes he'd favored his entire life.

"Can I get those one at a time?" Clark asked, smiling. She smiled back, waiting for the answers. "I moved to Metropolis, working for the _Daily Planet_…"

"Oh that _is_ you!" She said, smiling broader. "I saw some of your articles and wondered… but who are these?" She'd noticed Lois and Jimmy.

"Oh, um, Lana Lang: Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen," Clark said, turning and gesturing to each in turn.

"Nice to meet you," Lois said politely, holding out a hand. Lana stared at it.

"_The_ Lois Lane?"

"Wh-what?"

"The one who wrote that article… 'Why the World Doesn't Need Superman'…?"

"Um, yeah," she said, grimacing more than smiling.

"She got a Pulitzer for it," Jimmy said, trying to find his way into the conversation.

"Do you work at the _Planet_ too, then?" Lana asked.

:"Oh, yeah. Photographer."

"Ever taken any of Superman?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, loads."

"Wow," she looked wistful. "We never see him around here. Probably a good thing, but still…"

"Ms. Lang! My refill?!" An angry voice came from across the room. Lana apologetically excused herself, promising to come back for their orders soon, still staring at the three of them with some awe.

"Local celebrity, huh?" Jimmy asked, laughing in Clark's direction.

"Small town," he said, shaking his head. They ordered a few minutes later, but Lana couldn't stay to chat; it was a busy night and she had plenty to distract her.

They sat and talked for what seemed like hours. People came and went around them. Tables filling and emptying almost as fast as the cups of coffee. Lana walked by several times and attempted to talk to them, but she was always called away. Instead, Lois asked about the town and the people; getting stories she could use in the article. Clark told her about how he'd been adopted when he was about three, something Jimmy had had no idea about, and then gleaned over his childhood. He couldn't share half the stories he wanted to with Jimmy around.

His mom had video tapes somewhere that she had made while he was figuring out his powers. It was dangerous, they both knew that. But his childhood had been so unique. Everybody else they knew had home videos of their children's firsts, and his parents decided that they wanted that too, even if they could never show them to _anyone_. There were entire tapes that were filled up with normal things; Clark's birthday parties and graduation and things like that. Then there were the tapes that were hidden in the storm cellar in the barn with all the issues of the _Daily Planet_ from while he was gone and many more from years before that- his mother had saved every issue that he'd had something published in. That cellar housed not only a few extra super suites, but the video tapes from his childhood that showed him jumping off silos to test his jumping abilities- seeing if he could bounce- and running through the cornfields so fast that you could only see the corn stalks waver unless you slowed the tape down. Then there was the tape of Martha making the first super suite, the suite that had been replicated in a slightly more durable form by the Fortress of Solitude eventually. He loved watching those tapes, hoping someday he'd have similar memories for Jason, but knowing his son's life would be entirely different.

He sighed loudly without realizing it, making his two companions stop talking to stare at him. "Get hit by a wave of nostalgia there, Clark?" Jimmy asked, smiling at him

"Erm, yeah," Clark replied lamely. Lois's eyes were smiling, but she managed to keep the grin from breaking across her face.

"So," Lana's voice came from beside them unexpectedly. "What are three big city names doing in Nowheresville, Kansas?"

"Working on a story," Lois answered without missing a beat. Jimmy was still smiling at being called a big city name.

"Really?" Lana looked surprised. "What story found in Smallville would the _Daily Planet_ want to publish?"

"Well, his name is Clark Kent," Lois said, smiling at Clark from across the table.

"What?" Lana looked from Lois to Clark and back.

"The _Planet_ has been running background articles on all the writers," Clark explained, grabbing an old issue from a nearby table and opening up to the proper page. "Perry seems to think people will like to read our articles more if they know something beyond the fact that we write for the newspaper."

"It's a good idea," Lana said, skimming the article he was showing her. "So you're here getting background on Clark?"

"Pretty much," Lois said, smiling at Clark again.

"Got anything good?" Jimmy asked. "Or maybe something that can represent his youth besides a sunset over a cornfield…?"

"_The Torch_ newsroom still exists at Smallville High," Lana said after a thoughtful pause. "You could probably get a picture of his journalistic beginnings, but… other than that corn and sunsets is pretty much what we're made of around here."

"Ah, but the sunsets are very nice, and everybody likes corn," Clark defended. Lana smiled at him, nodding her agreement, and Lois decided she didn't like Lana very much.

- - -

It was nearly midnight of the next night when Lois's cell phone rang. Clark was first to wake, his sensitive ears tuned to anything abnormal so that he could go save people should they call in the night. "Lois," he mumbled sleepily, prodding the woman next to him in the back. "Lois, your phone is loud."

"What phone?" Lois replied.

"Yours."

"What about it?"

"It's ringing."

"How can you tell? It's down in the living room," she paused for a moment before it seemed to hit her. "Oh yeah, stupid question."

"It's still ringing."

"Well if it's so important why don't you go answer it?"

"Because I got back from Japan twenty minutes ago and I'm tired," he was beginning to come around, though. "And it's your phone."

"Fine, I'm getting my phone that I can't even hear…"

"Thank you, Lois," he kissed her gently and watched her leave the room, grabbing her robe and leaving the door open behind her. Sighing, he rolled over and listened to her make her way downstairs, feeling his eyelids droop as he relaxed to the sound of her heartbeat. He was shocked awake again a moment later when Jimmy flushed the toilet in the next room. Loudly, he might add.

"Hello?" Lois's tired voice reached his ears from the living room where her cell phone had been charging. "Hello? – Jason? Honey, is that you? – Jason?!"

Clark was downstairs in a flash, standing next to her in nothing but his pajama pants and his open robe. Lois pushed the speakerphone button and they both anxiously listened to the little voice on the other end.

"Mommy," Jason sounded terrified. "The bad man from the boat is here… Uncle Perry hid me in their closet, but I think the bad man will find me… I can hear them…" he shuddered. "The bad man isn't being nice… he's asking them where you and Daddy are, and where I am…"

"Jason, I want you to stay where you are; stay hidden. Don't let them find you," Lois said, her voice rising with panic. Jimmy was coming down the stairs after hearing the commotion.

"What's going on?" He asked groggily, noticing that Lois was close to tears and that Clark didn't even have his glasses on.

"Clark, why are you still here?!" Lois practically yelled, pushing him towards the door. "It's okay, Jason. You'll be okay. Daddy's on his way."

"Lois," Jimmy said, glancing toward the door, "there's no way Clark can get to Metropolis tonight; no more planes go out until noon tomorrow…" he stopped when he realized just how fast Clark had disappeared. And then there was a sonic boom from above them.

"Jason, honey, are you okay? Can you still hear the voices?" Jimmy's thoughts were halted in their tracks for a moment when he heard this. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but Lois wasn't listening to him.

"NO!!! DADDY! DADDY, HELP!!!" Jason's voice came through the small phone twice as loud in his panic. Lois had never felt so helpless. "STOP!! NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! DADDY!"

"Jason? JASON?!!"

"Hello, Miss Lane," a cold voice said after a moment. Lois paled and her knees gave out. Luckily, she was standing right next to the couch and she ended up sitting on the edge of the cushion. Martha was on the stairs now, her robe hanging open and worried curiosity written across her face.

"Luthor," Lois whispered. Jimmy's face fell, and Martha came running down the rest of the steps.

"Oh, very good, Miss Lane," Luthor said, slightly amused. "I expect you've sent the caped crusader by now…" if he was waiting for an answer Lois was in no state to give one.

"No! I don't like you! You're a bad man! DADDY! DADDY! Lemme go," Jason could be heard in the background and then he suddenly fell silent.

"What did you do to Jason?! What do you want from us?!" Lois asked, crying. Martha sat down in a chair across from her, a hand on her mouth, listening carefully. Jimmy was rooted to the spot, barely able to process the events unfolding.

"Oh, I think you know what I want from you," Luthor said simply, and the line went dead.

"No, no, no," Lois mumbled, dialing Perry's cell phone again. She nearly screamed when she got the pre-recorded out of service message. She threw the phone across the room in frustration and it hit the wall with what would've been a satisfying crack.

The noise seemed to wake those in the room somewhat. Jimmy managed to sit down on the couch with Lois, and Martha managed to blink. Lois grabbed Clark's phone from the side table where it had been charging next to hers and called the police.

"9-1-1 emergency, how can I help you?"

"What is Lex Luthor doing out of prison?!" Lois all but screamed into the phone.

"Ma'am, Lex Luthor is _still_ in prison," the woman's voice on the other end assured her.

"No, he's not," Lois said, keeping her voice under a little more control through her tears. "This is Lois Lane. My six year old just called and told me that his uncle had hid him in the closet when Luthor entered their house in Metropolis."

Clark couldn't think of a time he'd been more frightened in his life. He'd done plenty of things that would've been frightening to a normal person, but he wasn't exactly a normal person. And this was his son.

He shot through the skies, pushing himself, and reaching Metropolis in less than a minute. It was weird flying without a cape or the blue tights he'd become accustomed to, but that didn't really matter. The robe, still open, flapped around him in a similar fashion to the cape, but it wasn't the same. He could hear Jason's panicked screams suddenly stop to give way to terrified wheezing. And then silence.

Clark wanted nothing better to crash through the window and take Luthor out then and there, but he'd learned his lesson the last time he'd crashed down on Luthor. He hovered above the familiar rooftop and used his x-ray vision to asses the situation below.

The house was empty.

A speaker reminiscent of Charlie's Angels sat in the middle of the living room. Clark looked through the walls more carefully. There were signs of struggle. The front door was broken in, and the clocks were flashing, meaning the power had been out. The room Jason was staying in was the messiest. It looked like Luthor's thugs had overturned everything before they'd realized he wasn't there. Perry's room wasn't as bad, but the closet door where Jason had said he'd been hiding had been ripped off its hinges. There was no blood, luckily. An overturned vase in the entryway was still spilling water all over the floor, meaning he'd missed them by seconds.

Clark took to the skies after smashing the speaker with his bare foot for good measure.

**Looking for opinions, here- what's your take on the kings of the twenty-eighth planet thing? is there something more they can do in this story, or do you want to move on from them? **

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

- - - **Chapter Ten **

Lex Luthor couldn't believe the level of incompetence held by those around him. Somehow, all the goons he'd managed to bribe while in prison had managed to lose all of the kryptonite he'd given them funds to dredge up. Of course, that was mostly Lois Lanes fault. She and her newest fiancé, Clark Kent, had written enough articles exposing the old lead-lined warehouses that the police had investigated. Every single one of his stockpiles had been discovered. The kryptonite had been removed by the National Guard and placed in a lead insulated vault on the outskirts of Metropolis. The base was well guarded- everyone on the skeleton crew new each other; no chance of impersonating a guard to get a hold of the kryptonite. That and the fact that General Sam Lane, Lois's father, ran the base himself.

That incompetence had led to the unfortunate demise of quite of few of his staff. Unfortunately, the troubles hadn't ended there. Oh no. It had taken them almost a year to get him out of jail, and jail was not a pleasant place to be when you are Lex Luthor. He had a reputation that made him the most feared man on the streets, but the men who would otherwise do his bidding unthinkingly felt safe enough to stand up to him in the nice guarded zones of the prison.

Of course, Lex had gotten out. He'd used people and bribed people and even killed a man to get out. But that didn't matter. He was out and he had kryptonite. It wasn't nearly as much kryptonite as he'd been expecting to have, but it would have to do. Then there was the fact that Lois Lane had felt that the time was right to go to Kansas of all places. They had located the apartment of her fiancé and had staked it out for three days before they realized that nobody was there. A little research, something Lex had to oversee personally or risk disappointment, proved that Lois, Clark, and a photographer were on a two week vacation of sorts for an article, and her son was staying with Perry White.

Perry White lived in a 'safe' neighborhood where neighbors knew and looked out for each other. That posed a problem for staking out the house. The IQ level of his goons made sure that they'd get noticed in a neighborhood like that. Somehow, they'd managed. Jason was staying in the farthest corner of the house in a bedroom right next to Perry's. That would make it difficult to sneak in and take the boy; Perry would have to be dealt with as well.

- - -

Perry wasn't sure whether he should be pissed or terrified.

He'd woken for no apparent reason just before midnight. He went in the hall and checked on Jason, finding the boy sleeping soundly. They'd had a busy day. After school and some time at the _Planet_, they'd gone to the park and had hotdogs from a vendor for dinner. They'd finally made it home just before Jason's bed time and the boy was sleeping like a rock. Until Perry turned to go back to bed.

Jason sat straight up in bed. Perry would've sworn he was going to start sleep walking, except he was staring around the room and looking scared, not beginning to walk around like a zombie. Jason had relaxed without noticing his uncle standing in the doorway, and Perry had dismissed it, heading back to bed. He'd just made it back into bed when the boy charged into his room. He was about to speak when there was a crash from the front of the house, and Jason let out a frightened squeal.

"It's the bad men again, I know it!" Jason said, jumping onto Perry's bed and hiding in his arms.

Perry wasn't sure what he meant 'the bad men,' but the boy was shaking. Perry had brought him to the closet, telling him to stay quiet, before taking out his trusty wooden bat and walking out into the house. He'd flipped a few light switches and found that the power was out. Just his luck. He'd felt something come into contact with his rib cage at the same moment Jason had found his cell phone in his jacket pocket in the closet and called the one number he had memorized.

Perry had been blindfolded and handcuffed, and led into a vehicle of some kind. When the blindfold had finally come off, he was in a small square room with walls made of large cement blocks. A single light bulb dangled from a wire at the center of the room casting weak yellow light that barely reached the far corners. He'd been left alone despite his loudly voiced dislike of his situation, and equally loud inquiries about Jason. He'd eventually fallen silent, and Jason had been brought in not ten minutes later. The boy hadn't looked so good; he was crying, sweating, and shaking violently as though he had a chill he couldn't quite get rid of. His breath wheezed in and out of his lungs; Perry called for the inhaler but only got the door slammed in his face by one of Luthor's henchmen.

When Perry had touched Jason, it felt like the boy's skin was on fire. After several minutes, Jason had stopped wheezing and shivering, and just clung to Perry. He was still almost intolerably warm and still trembled slightly. He wouldn't say anything, but would whimper occasionally in distress.

"It's okay, Jason. You'll be okay," Perry muttered constantly, holding the boy close and stroking his hair. It didn't seem to do anything to comfort Jason, but he clung closer, more desperately. Whatever Luthor had done to the boy was still affecting him. _Where's Superman?_ Perry wondered.

Suddenly, Jason perked up. He had the same look on his face that he'd had earlier that evening- morning, really. Slowly, he stood up, looking at the far wall, the one they were leaning against, as though he could see straight through it.

"Jason?" Perry asks, looking at the uninteresting cement blocks and trying to see what Jason was seeing.

Jason nodded at the wall and Perry looked at him like he was crazy. Without a word, Jason grabbed Perry's hand and dragged him over to the wall across from where they were sitting, standing to one side of the door and pressing backwards.

"Jason, what is it?" Perry asked again. Jason just shook his head, his breath getting a little more difficult. "Jason?"

The far wall imploded. It wasn't a violent implosion, but an implosion none the less. A section of the large bricks fell into the room, landing heavily and sending a cloud of dust into the air. A man stood just inside the now not-so-complete wall wearing a faded olive bathrobe, and dark gray pajama pants. Perry didn't recognize Superman at once, it took a moment; the hero's hair was in its usual fashion, all but a single curl slicked back by the wind, but without the suit he looked much like somebody else that Perry couldn't quite name.

"Daddy," Jason whispered, relieved.

Perry was silent as Superman came farther into the room and gathered his son into his arms; they hugged each other tightly for a moment. His skin was oddly pale, even for Superman, and Perry would know after pouring over photographs of him with Jimmy for hours in the past months. "Daddy?" Perry asked, looking between father and son and shocking himself when he noticed many shared traits. The eyes stood out first, then the jaw line, and the thick, dark hair.

"Superman," Luthor's voice came from the doorway, cold and somewhat amused as usual. "You always make an entrance, don't you?" He smirked, pulling a broken shard of kryptonite out of his pocket. "I kept a souvenir from our last encounter."

Superman stumbled, setting Jason down on the floor next to him and leaning against the wall. Perry fought to come to some sort of conclusion. If Jason was Superman's son, why wasn't he hurting just as much as Superman right now? Jason seemed just as confused.

"Daddy?" He asked, "What's wrong? That's not real kryptonite…"

"Jason…" Superman started, but he didn't get far; Luthor took a step closer, pressing the shard against his skin. Perry could see the sweat on Superman's forehead and bare chest. The skin around the scar that he knew to be from the encounter with the 'Kings' was flushed, the pale scar itself was tinged with green.

Luthor pressed the kryptonite deeper into the skin near his collarbone, letting blood spill over the top edge and onto his fingers. Clark winced but didn't flinch away. It was the third time in his life he'd seen his blood, not counting the scrapes he'd gotten when he was a child. Clark did his best to glare at Luthor, the man who had made him bleed two out of those three times.

"No! Stop hurting Daddy!" Jason cried out, leaping forward. Luthor's hand slashed backwards, angling the kryptonite so that it would take Jason in the stomach. Clark leaned forward, shoving Luthor's shoulder and sending him backwards with enough force to make him miss Jason and land on his backside a few feet behind him. The kryptonite he held in his hand didn't miss, though. It cut through Jason's bright orange pajamas and shattered against his skin.

The three men in the room froze, as did the goons standing outside the door. Jason was wheezing again and Clark immediately reached into his robe pocket and pulled out one of Jason's inhalers. Jason grabbed it up and inhaled deeply with Clark watching him with worried eyes, ignoring the blood dripping down his chest. Perry was standing and watching the scene, mouth hanging open. Luthor pushed himself to his feet, staring at the rip in Jason's pajamas.

"Impossible," he whispered. Jason handed the inhaler back to Clark, smiling slightly before he remembered where they were. Luckily, he didn't have another attack. Luthor had come to his senses, though, snapping his fingers. The goons outside the door came in, moving to handcuff Perry. Clark reacted first, pulling Perry away and lifting Jason into his arms, ignoring the throbbing he felt in his old and new wounds as he passed close to the kryptonite.

Jason clung to him like there was no tomorrow, and Perry quickly moved in front of him. At least until the goons stopped them; Clark wasn't moving as quickly as he normally did because of the kryptonite.

Just before Clark took flight, he faltered and felt Jason tense against him. He leaned against the edge of the wall, and would've dropped Jason if his fingers weren't locked into his robe so tightly. "What?" Perry asked, spinning around as soon as he noticed that Superman had stopped.

"Kryptonite poisoning," Superman muttered, sinking to his knees with Jason still held close.

"Lex," an annoyed voice came from the doorway. "One of your guys just dropped this off."

Kitty Kowalski was standing in the door, holding a crystalline chunk of kryptonite lazily in one hand.

"Thank you, Kitty," Lex said, taking the kryptonite from her and smiling; it was moments like these that had earned her a ticket out of prison with him.

"There's a whole bunch more of it downstairs, but it was too heavy," Kitty shrugged, snapping her gum.

Clark felt Jason go limp in his arms, his fingers unclenching from the robe it was buried in. Clark's eyes were fixed on the kryptonite, examining it. _What made this chunk so different from the shard Luthor had had that it affected Jason when the other hadn't?_ The only thing he could tell from his position was that it looked more like something that had been grown with New Krypton rather than something that had come with the meteors from Krypton. _Could that be it?_

"Superman?" Perry was asking, "Jason?"

Lex was looking at them curiously, looking at the kryptonite in his hand and comparing it to the kryptonite shattered on the floor.

"Go get handcuffs for the other two," Lex ordered, bending over to pick up the shards of kryptonite on the floor. "Move them into a secure room and keep this close."

The three of them were handcuffed, even little Jason who was still unconscious. Clark put up a fight when the henchmen took Jason away, but the kryptonite was eating away at his strength faster than it ever had before.

The new room was similar to the old one, only bigger. With what Clark had left of his x-ray vision he discovered that the far wall separated them from open air and the morning sunrise over Metropolis.

A pair of goons were stationed just inside the doors, one of them holding the kryptonite, the other a handgun. The handcuffs were removed from Jason and Perry, but not from Clark. Clark dragged Jason across the room anyways, getting them as far away from the kryptonite as possible before sinking down against the wall beside his son. Perry crouched nearby, watching.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked.

_Feel like taking on a guy with a gun?_ Clark wanted to say, but knew better. "For Jason? He just has to wake up on his own."

"Anything else?"

Clark was silent, looking at Jason before turning his eyes to his own hands. He broke the handcuffs apart, wincing as the metal pressed into his skin. Super strength was still there to a point, but the invulnerability was gone. He ran a systems check on himself; definitely no flying until the kryptonite was farther away, super speed was a possibility but it wouldn't be as good as usual, just like the super strength wasn't up to par. Invulnerability was gone; x-ray vision was fading… heat vision. "Go grab the gun," Clark ordered. Perry looked at him like he was crazy, but Clark was already squinting at the metal.

The goon threw the weapon away from him, shaking his hands around wildly to cool them off while his counterpart looked on in confusion. Perry was up in a flash, dashing across the room and snatching the gun up. He pointed it at the pair of them, ordering them to raise their hands above their heads. They complied, and the kryptonite fell to the floor. Surprisingly, it bounced, sending a few chips scattering away, instead of shattering.

Perry ordered the goons to open the door. Keeping the gun trained on them, he kicked the kryptonite out into the hall. He glanced down and kicked one of the larger chips away too before having them close the door again. "Now what?" He asked Superman.

Before Clark could answer, Jason came around. "Daddy?" He asked softly, looking up and smiling when he found his father's worried blue eyes looking down at him.

"Ready to go, Jason?" He asked; the boy nodded excitedly before looking around. His face fell.

"How're we going to get out? Where did the kryptonite go? How come I still feel sick?"

"We'll be okay, Jason," he assured him softly so that the others in the room couldn't hear. "I still feel sick, too. It'll be over soon."

"Okay, Daddy."

The pair of them got to their feet, Clark leaning on the wall with one hand and helping Jason up with his other. He moved Jason into one corner and walked to the other corner, glancing at Perry. He still had the goons at gunpoint. Clark drew a deep breath; this was going to hurt, probably a lot. Not as much as launching New Krypton into space, though.

He gritted his teeth and made a fist. Then he shoved the fist through the back wall. It hurt like hell and he expected to feel his bones breaking, but they didn't. The hole wasn't nearly as big as he'd hoped for. The cement walls were thick, and he didn't have all his strength; the abomination that the crystals and sea water had morphed the kryptonite into was still affecting him. Clark set his jaw and pulled the blocks away, widening the hole until it would be big enough for him to escape through.

After a few minutes, he was satisfied with the hole in the wall, and Clark cracked his knuckles, not letting any of the pain he felt when he moved his fingers show on his face. He could already see bruises forming on the knuckles of the hand that he'd used to punch through the wall. "Bring them over here, Perry," he instructed.

Perry kept the gun pointed at them and directed them over to Superman. They looked at him with fear, worrying he was going to throw them out of the hole he'd just made. Before they could say a word, Clark pushed them together just hard enough to knock them unconscious.

"Daddy!" Jason said, surprised.

"They'll be okay, Jason," Clark assured him, motioning for Perry to come over. "They'll wake up in a little bit with a headache- we just can't leave them awake when we escape or they'll go tell Luthor that we got away."

"The bald one?"

"Yes, the bald one," he smiled. "Perry, I need you to lie them in front of the door," Perry did as he was told.

"I think he kind of looks like a mean Mr. Clean," Jason remarked while they watched Perry dragging the criminals away.

"Mr. Clean?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, the guy on the cleaning bottles Mommy uses in the bathroom," Jason said.

"That Mr. Clean," Clark chuckled. "Yes, he kind of does." Perry looked at them like they were both insane to be talking about Mr. Clean at a time like this.

A minute later all three of them climbed out the window. Clark tested himself, hovering a few feet above the floor inside before deciding he could carry the other two while in flight, at least for awhile. Clark went out first, hovering level with the window as Perry passed him Jason, who latched onto him like he had before. Perry climbed out and looked down uncertainly.

"I won't let you fall," Clark assured him, taking his under the arms and lifting away from the building. Perry flailed a bit, gripping Clark's forearms and keeping his elbows at ninety degree angles. It would be an uncomfortable flight like that, but Clark wasn't complaining. They were away from Luthor and the kryptonite.

He heard shouting from inside the building they'd been held captive just as they lifted above the clouds. Luthor was not a happy camper; his prisoners had all escaped and he was left with two unconscious goons, a broken slab of kryptonite, and a gun folded in half.

Clark was feeling stronger by the minute, and he could tell Jason was feeling better too. Perry, on the other hand, wasn't liking the heights so much.

It took almost half an hour to reach Smallville. They'd had to set down twice so that Perry could flail his arms about to bring the blood back into them. It was a nice break for Clark, who still wasn't feeling quite up to scratch even after flying in the direct sunlight. Perry had refused point-blank to be carried any other way, insisting he was comfortable enough. Clark had only chuckled at the fact that Perry had the guts to even yell at Superman, but then, Superman was currently wearing a bathrobe.


	11. Chapter 11

**- - - Chapter Eleven**

The three of them set down at the Kent farm with the usual grace, and Perry immediately began looking around curiously.

"Where are we?" He asked, looking for any identifying marks.

"My mother's house," Clark said. Perry's eyebrows shot into his hairline. Clark shook his head; all the secrets were coming out today. Jimmy and Perry would know everything; there really was no way to keep that from happening. He certainly wasn't going to kiss it out of their memories. Perry was opening his mouth to ask a question when Lois hurtled out the door.

"Jason!" Lois practically screamed. The little boy finally let go of his father to run to his mother's waiting arms. She was still wearing her pajamas and bathrobe, her hair was unbrushed and she was shaking. Jason didn't say anything, just clung to his mother like he had clung to his father for the entire flight. "Are you okay? Jason? Did he hurt you?" She held him back to look at him, but Jason just pulled himself close again so she turned her eyes to Clark. "What happened?"

"He'll be okay, Lois," Clark assured her. "We were up in the sunlight so he was able to recover."

"Recover from _what_?" She asked. Perry looked at her like she was crazy for talking to Superman in that tone of voice.

"Kryptonite poisoning," he said softly.

"Kryptonite poisoning," Lois said, her knees buckling beneath her. Clark reached out an easy hand and caught her, taking Jason back into his arms.

"Lois?" He asked, trying to steady her, but her eyes were now fixed on the bruised knuckles on his hand holding Jason.

"Clark," she said, touching his bruised knuckles before looking him in the eye again. "You don't get hurt…"

"There was kryptonite, Lois… invulnerability is the first to go."

"You mean to say that you felt that fist go through the wall?" Perry asked, coming out of his stunned silence without catching the name Lois had called him.

"I'm surprised I didn't break any bones," Clark admitted after nodding to answer Perry's question. Now that he was thinking about it, the escape seemed a little too easy. Punch through a wall, bend a gun in half… Luthor was usually trickier than that. Clark wasn't allowed to dwell on it, Lois was leaning against him, examining his bruised hand and their son for any signs of pain, and Perry was giving them a weird look. Martha burst through the front door that moment, quickly followed by Jimmy.

Martha had dressed, but she looked extremely tired. Jimmy was dressed too, and he looked not only tired but also confused beyond belief. It was apparent he'd gotten no answers out of either worrying women.

"Clark!" Martha said, running to her son. She hugged what she could of him, Lois had stepped back when she'd heard Martha come out, taking Jason with her so that the other woman could have a real hug. "What happened?" She asked, rubbing at the blood on his chest. "And don't you dare tell me this isn't yours."

"Lex Luthor had them, Mom," he started.

"We knew that," Lois interrupted, "he called." Clark's face darkened.

"Of course he did," shaking his head. "He had kryptonite, two different varieties, but we're okay. Jason's fine, I'm fine, Perry's fine… we should probably call the police and get them to his building, though. And I should get out of my pajamas so I can help them," he said, trying to come up with a plan of action.

"No!" Lois said forcefully. "There's kryptonite, there's no _way_ you're going _anywhere_ near Luthor or that place until the police have taken care of it!" She was back almost in his arms, staring him down.

"Lois," he started, but he knew that look. He wasn't going to win even if he was Superman.

"Besides," Martha said quietly, "I think you have some explaining to do around here."

"Yeah," Clark said, running a hand through his hair and looking at his boss and his best friend.

After the most awkward silence in human history, Clark went up to his room to put real clothes on. He opted for plain jeans, a white button-up t-shirt, and his well-worn converse all stars. He put the suit on underneath so he'd be able to get to Metropolis as soon as he could. Lois was right, though. It was safer to let Metropolis P.D. handle the situation; they'd been called and had all the information. He needed to be around to explain everything for his friends.

Clark went down the stairs and found everybody in the kitchen. His mother was cooking up a storm and it smelled delicious. Perry and Jimmy were sitting at the kitchen table watching Lois comfort a still shaking Jason on the couch. Everybody but his mother looked at him when he reached the landing.

He was holding his glasses in his hands, playing with the rims nervously. He walked over to the table and set them down, not daring to sit down himself.

"Daddy?" Jason asked, getting out of his mother's lap to come stand by Clark's leg. Clark crouched down to his son's eye level.

"Yes?"

"Why does that bald man hate you so much?"

"He just does, Jason, I don't know why," Clark sighed, pulling his son close for a hug. "He's just a bad man and bad men sometimes do things that we can't understand."

"Are we safe here?"

"Yes," Clark said, the tone of his voice driving any uncertainty from his son's mind. "He doesn't have any idea where we went and he can't find us." Jason nodded.

"I'm tired." This time Clark nodded, picking his son up and carried him into the room that he and Lois were sharing, laying him on the bed. He heard Lois come up behind him and pull her clothes out of the closet to change.

They pair of them went down the stairs together, preparing to answer the onslaught of questions that awaited them.

Clark cleared his throat, sitting down at the table while Lois slid into the chair next to him. "How's Jason?" Martha asked, piling eggs and hashbrowns and bacon onto four plates and setting them in front of the four people at the table.

"He's okay, just tired now," Lois said, glancing at Clark for confirmation. He just nodded, pushing the food around on his plate. Martha gave him a glare that said "Don't play with your food," and he stopped, putting the fork down and leaning back in his chair.

"So you didn't go on a soul searching trip around the globe, then, huh?" Jimmy said after a moment. The others hadn't touched their food either, but Lois had managed to sip some tea. Martha joined them then, setting her own plate down and starting on the bacon. She was planning to enjoy the awkward conversation.

"No," Clark said, smiling wryly. "Not exactly… I have been around the globe numerous times, though."

"Daily," Lois added, trying to help. It didn't work; Perry and Jimmy were still just staring.

"I'm sorry I kept secrets," Clark said uncomfortably, "but if people know who I am, who my friends are… things like what happened this morning start happening a lot more often."

Jimmy shook his head, dismissing the apology as unnecessary, and Perry nodded, accepting the apology.

"This doesn't go to press, Perry," Clark said forcefully, "this secret has to be kept."

"Of course," Perry said, looking almost offended that it would be suggested. Lois, Clark, and Martha visibly relaxed.

"Well," Clark started, wanting to fidget but knowing better. "I suppose you have questions...?"

"A few," Jimmy said, managing to smile. Clark still just looked nervous. Perry was giving him a death glare, not angry, but trying to figure things out. He had seen Superman so many times, read things about him, put together his paper surrounding articles about him, and he'd read things Clark Kent wrote and watched Clark go about his daily life.

Superman was the ultimate hero and the ultimate mystery. He flew around the world, one place one minute, and another in the next. He save lives and disappeared into the sky; nobody really knew anything about him. Perry had often wondered what was behind the tight fitting blue suit and the cape, but never once had he considered Clark Kent. Clark was a klutz, to put it lightly. He knocked everything over, dipped his tie in his own coffee, stuttered constantly, and typed faster than anybody else at the _Planet._ On the planet, Perry realized.

The man sitting at the table across from him was different from either of the two personalities he realized Clark embodied. He wasn't wearing glasses so he didn't really look like Clark, but his hair was messy like Clark's usually was and his manner was nervous, so he wasn't Superman either. He looked very normal even though Perry knew otherwise. He looked like a guy wearing normal clothes, about to eat a normal breakfast, who also happened to be from a different planet. Clark Kent was from a different planet!

"So, if you're from a different planet," Perry started, glancing over at Martha for a second, "how is it that you have a home here?"

"Oh, um," Clark said, not expecting that question to come first. At least Perry hadn't come straight out and called him an alien. "My ship crashed when I was about three, Mom and Dad adopted me."

"We forged a lot of paperwork on that," Martha said, pouring Lois and herself more tea.

"So an alien ship crashes in your corn and the first thing you thought of was adopting him?" Jimmy asked, looking apologetically at Clark, but Clark just shook his head. He'd often wondered the same thing during his teenage years, after they had finally told him that he was an alien

"Well," Martha started; she hadn't expected to be answering any questions. "Jonathan and I had always wanted a child and even though Clark was unusual we didn't want to hand him over to authorities. We did consider it," she admitted. "He lifted our truck up while Jonathan was changing a flat. That wasn't normal. But…" she shrugged. In reality she had no idea what had made them so sure that they should keep the boy they'd found in the corn. But something had. It was very difficult to explain. "We were kind of attached by the time he started jumping off things, so…"

"Jumping off things?"

"Off things, onto things, falling through the barn roof…" she shook her head and glanced at Clark, getting a weird glint in her eye. "Actually, we have home movies…"

"Mom," Clark started in protest, but she was already heading for the barn.

"Home movies?" Lois asked, looking at Clark as the screen door closed behind Martha without a sound. "Is that really the smartest thing to have around?"

"No," Clark said, looking through the walls of the house and into the barn where his mother already had the cellar open. "But it was hard for my parents not to be able to have something so show for all the … weird things I could do," his friends looked confused so he elaborated. "Everybody else had home movies or photographs of their kids doing stuff that they wanted to remember, but my parents were too afraid that someone would come and take me away if they knew what I could do… Eventually they got tired of it. They made the movies so that they could watch them and not worry about somebody developing the film and noticing that the kid the picture was of had jumped forty feet in the air or something."

"And you just keep these in the barn?" Jimmy asked.

"In the cellar in the barn," Clark nodded.

"And nobody has ever found them?"

"Well, the cellar is hidden, and even if somebody noticed it, this is Kansas. Everybody has cellars."

"Still doesn't seem like the most secure place to keep Superman's childhood a secret."

"Nobody's looking for Superman's childhood," Clark pointed out.

"So who are you, really?" Jimmy asked after a few seconds of silence.

"What?" Clark asked, not sure how to answer.

"Well, Superman and Clark Kent are about as separate as you can get and then... right now you're not acting like either one."

"Oh, well, um," Clark said, finding himself stuttering. Lois laughed at him and he glared at her, summing up his thoughts before he tried speaking again. "I was raised here as Clark Kent. I was Clark Kent before I was ever Superman; Lois came up with Superman," he shrugged, and Lois nodded to assure the two men that he spoke the truth. "The Clark Kent you know is easily overlooked. I can disappear to go be Superman easier if nobody notices me, or at least not when I'm not tripping into them or asking them for napkins to save my tie from the coffee," he smiled and noticed that his friends had the ghosts of smiles on their faces as well. "I guess this is me," he shrugged. "I'm not nearly as klutzy as the Clark you know from the office, but I'm not, I don't know, all that much of a super man, I guess."

Perry and Jimmy just sat there looking at him, and Clark dug into his breakfast. His mother cooked like no other person he had ever met and it was amazing. There was a knock on the door and Clark picked up his glasses, smiling at them and pushing them up the bridge of his nose before flashing over to the door and opening it.

"Clark! Hi, where's your mom?" Ben asked, holding out the box of vegetables in his hands. "I've got more produce for her to make into bread."

"She's in the barn, I'll get her if you want to come on in," he let the older man pass into the house before walking out to the barn, letting the screen door slam behind him. "Mom?"

"What?" Martha's voice came from the cellar. "You didn't come down here to talk me out of it, did you? Because I've been waiting to share these with someone for years…"

"I'm not here to talk you out of it, Mom," he assured her. "It's just that Ben's here with more vegetables. Personally, I didn't know you could make bread out of carrots…"

"The carrots are for carrot cake, honey," she said, handing him a box of tapes and dusting her hands off on her pants. "Where is he?"

"In the house."

"Okay, well, you put those in the living room, and I'll talk to Ben. With all the people here I doubt he'll want to stay long," she smiled, patting Clark's cheek. He walked after back into the house, carrying the box awkwardly for show more than anything else.

"Thank you, Ben!" Martha was saying happily, taking the box of vegetables away from him as though nothing had happened in the past twelve hours. He could tell anyway. Lois's eyes were still a bit puffy from her earlier tears, and Perry had a few bruises, not to mention that he was still in his pajamas. Jimmy was pensive, not making eye contact with anybody and eating his breakfast like a zombie. Clark put to box down in the next room and made a show of catching his toe on the door frame when he entered the room. Ben just shook his head muttering something about how Clark had always been a bit of a klutz.

"Is everything okay here?" He asked, looking from face to face. Jimmy and Perry were both wearing identical looks of confusion, and Lois still looked nervous. Clark shrugged and plastered a dumb smile on his face. Ben turned to Perry, "I don't believe we've met… I'm Ben Hubbard, I live down the way."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Hubbard, I'm Perry White," Perry said, not leaving his seat.

"The editor for the _Planet_?" Perry nodded. "What brings you to Smallville?"

Perry wanted to say "Superman," but he didn't. Instead, glancing at Clark, he said, "I've got people writing an article here, why shouldn't I be here?" Ben just shrugged.

"You sure everything's okay?" Martha nodded.

"Of course, Ben. Everything is just fine," she smiled warmly. "We'll see you later, okay- I've got to put these city slickers to work."

"Bye, then," he said, leaving reluctantly. . Martha's smile dropped off her face the moment the screen door slammed behind him. Lois emerged from her teacup, moving to refill it with coffee. Clark was staring through the ceiling, watching Jason roll over in his sleep.

Clark was about to sit down at the table again and continue with their conversation when he heard his cell ring in the other room. Sighing, he turned around and searched the room with his x-ray vision, finding the phone hidden next to the TV. "Hello?" He couldn't believe how tired he sounded.

"Clark Kent?"

"This is…"

"This is Officer Stephens, Metropolis PD."

"Oh."

"I'm calling about your son and Perry White. We need to get their statements…"

"…Can it wait till tomorrow?" Clark asked, cutting him off.

"Well…"

"Superman said he'd be back tomorrow afternoon to bring all of us back to Metropolis; is it possible to wait till then? We're all very tired."

"I suppose that would be alright," Stephens said reluctantly. "But I do need to speak to Superman as soon as possible. Is there a way you can get in touch with him?"

"I'll do my best."

"Thank you, Mr. Kent. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon at the station."

"Goodbye Officer."

"What was that?" Lois asked from the doorway.

"Metropolis P.D. They want us all in at the station tomorrow to answer questions, and they want Superman to stop by as soon as possible."

"Did they find anything?"

"I don't know, I haven't gone yet."

"Don't get annoyed with me, Clark," Lois told him narrowing her eyes.

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head and putting a warm hand on her shoulder. "I'm just really tired."

"Didn't you get enough sunlight on the flight back?"

"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "The kryptonite that Luthor had was different from the stuff he used to have…"

"What do you mean different?" Martha asked, they'd come into the kitchen now.

"Well," Clark thought back to his brief imprisonment. "He had the other half of the shard he stabbed me with in his pocket," he rubbed at the spot on his chest Luthor had most recently scarred him absentmindedly. "It was kryptonite, no doubt about that, but it didn't affect Jason at all. It broke on his skin when Luthor tried to stab him… then Kitty brought in another block of it. Jason passed out, like he did when he was near the chunk on the playground…"

"Are you saying there's two different kinds of green kryptonite?" Lois asked, and Clark nodded slowly.

"It would make sense…"

"What would make sense?" Lois prompted when he didn't continue out loud.

"Well, how did Jason react on Luthor's ship when Luthor was waving around that block of kryptonite?"

"He was afraid of it, I think," Lois shrugged. "It didn't seem to physically hurt him though…"

"Exactly," Clark said, falling silent for another moment. "I think the kryptonite that came from New Krypton is different, more powerful, than the kryptonite from Krypton. Or at least it affects us differently."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, kryptonite from Krypton, like the shard Luthor stabbed me with, didn't affect Jason, but the kryptonite you found in the alley and on the playground at Jason's school affected both of us, and a lot more severely than the other kryptonite."

"Why would it do that?"

"I have no idea," he lost himself in thought for a moment. "Maybe it's because it was mixed with the crystal from the Fortress. Maybe it affects Jason because it grew in Earth's ocean and not on Krypton. Maybe… There are a lot of maybes."

Lois sat down. It was good to know that her son couldn't be affected by a small amount of the kryptonite that was left on Earth, but it was bad news to learn that the greater amount floating around had even more severe affects on the two most important men in her life.

"What about that kryptonite dagger the pod people had?" She asked after a moment.

"Pod people?" Clark asked, drawing a blank.

"Those Kings of the Twenty-Eighth Planet, or whatever they called themselves."

"Oh," he shrugged. "That was normal kryptonite."

'Then why did it affect Jason?"

"When was Jason close to it?"

"Jimmy brought it to the car first, where Jason was waiting," Lois said. Clark glanced at Jimmy, who was looking apologetic.

"What happened?"

"He had an asthma attack," Perry told him.

"Hm," Clark thought for a moment. "Maybe it was just a normal asthma attack. That dagger was covered in blood, after all."

"Maybe," Lois said.

"I should go back to Metropolis," Clark said after a short silence. "I'll bring some things from your house for you, Perry."

Perry just nodded, so Clark nodded back.

He flew high over the building where they'd been held captive first, looking through the walls for any signs of kryptonite. There was nothing, just a few of the smaller chips of kryptonite in the second room they'd been held in that the CSI's were carefully sorting into little baggies. No signs of Luthor, though. Figures. The police officers on the scene asked him the usual questions before assuring him they were doing all they could to track down Luthor; they weren't having much luck, though. They weren't even sure who had gotten him out of prison. The two goons he'd left behind weren't talking, figuring they'd be safer in jail.

Clark was exhausted. It was a strange feeling, one he hadn't felt since he'd last been in the hospital. He was able to ignore it while he packed a small suitcase of clothes for Perry, shoving his laptop on top and latching the case shut. He flew high above the clouds, drinking in the sunlight on his way back to Kansas. When he landed he was still tired, but better.

He was about to change back into his Clark clothes when he heard a cry for help. Sighing, he shot into the house and handed a startled Perry his suitcase, smiled at Lois and his mother, and left the house. The sonic boom that rattled the weathervane was the only evidence of his passing.

Inside, Lois flipped on the TV to try and find out where he'd gone.

"Is this how your life works?" Perry asked, watching Lois casually flip through channels until she found her fiancé on the news pulling the door off of an upturned car that was part of a five car pileup just south of Metropolis.

"Pretty much," Lois said, chuckling.

"Do you ever get jealous?" Jimmy asked, looking over her shoulder at the screen. Clark was holding a very pretty young lady close to him with one arm and pulling her sister, another pretty young woman, out of the back seat. Lois thought for a moment on that. In all rationality, she had every reason to be jealous; Clark was out there saving complete strangers when he could be here with her answering his friends' stupid questions, and those ladies _were_ pretty.

"No," she said, turning to face the other two men. "Those two women only know that he's Superman and he just saved them. They don't know that he prefers tea over coffee on the weekends, or that he'd do just about anything for a slice of his mother's apple pie, or that he _always_ misspells percentage…" she smiled, shrugging.

"Where's Daddy? Is he saving people again?" Jason asked, bounding down the stairs and looking like he'd slept for twelve hours and not just been held captive and traumatized.

"Yup," Lois said, moving aside so he could see the TV.

"He looks tired," Jason commented after a moment, smiling when his father flew off to another rescue somewhere.

"Jason, come and get breakfast!" Martha's voice came from the kitchen.

"Are you Gramma Martha?" Jason asked when he entered the kitchen.

"Yes, I am," she said, smiling. He looked just look his father, it was amazing. Martha hugged her grandson, something she'd never expected to be able to do.

Clark returned a few hours later to find everybody in the living room watching the videos of his childhood. Jason was laughing as he watched a ten year old Clark smile at the camera before turning and running for the edge of the corn; he was moving so fast by the time he reached the tall green stalks that they bent away from him. The ripple through the corn disappeared into the distance and then Clark appeared again, jumping high enough so that his feet cleared the tips of the stalks, still moving away. Then, just as suddenly as he'd gone, he reappeared, jumping over the last row of corn and landing a few feet in front of the camera.

"Will I be able to do that, Daddy?" Jason asked, and everybody jumped when Clark chuckled.

"Probably."

"Oh, no," Lois sighed. "I hadn't even thought about that."

Clark sunk onto the couch next to Lois and she could practically feel waves of exhaustion waving off of him. She turned to look at him, tell him to go to bed, something, but the look on his face told her that it would be a waste of time. He wanted a few minutes of normality, even if it meant watching his younger self jumping off the silos.

"Daddy, when did you learn how to fly?" Jason asked. He was tired of watching Clark lift heavy things and move really fast. That stuff wasn't nearly as cool as flying.

"I was fourteen when I first flew," Clark said, thinking back to the time he'd fallen through the barn roof and hovered instead of impacting the ground.

"That wasn't flying," Martha said, narrowing her eyebrows at Clark and going to find the proper tape. "That was falling with style."

"At least you didn't have to worry about my knees anymore," Clark said with a smile.

"I was more worried about the silos and the roof than your knees, honey," Martha said, changing the tape. Lois and Jason looked eager to see the next tape, but Perry and Jimmy just looked weirded-out.

The beginning of the next tape was filled with the same things as the previous tape had been full of; Clark running through the corn, faster each time they saw him, jumping higher and higher until he easily cleared the farmhouse and barn. He had the same thick framed glasses that he wore now, only Martha had told them that he needed them then. His eyes had had trouble adjusting to the yellow sun, apparently. Martha suddenly got quiet, watching the tape expectantly.

Clark was jumping around in the distance, coming closer as he jumped off the ground and landed on a silo, and then jumped onto the roof of the house and, without pausing, onto the barn roof. Then he fell through the barn roof. "Clark!" Martha's voice came through the TV. They had already seen that he was invulnerable, but it was a mother's place to worry, especially after seeing her son fall through the barn roof. The camera was shaking, but still level with the ground, as though Martha were running towards the barn with the camera still held properly in her hands.

The younger Martha stopped outside the barn door and threw it open to find her son floating about four feet off the ground, his arms spread wide, and his glasses lying on the hay below him. "Clark?" Martha asked on the tape, the camera dropping to the floor, but still managing to keep Clark's front in frame. Two horses, not Betsy and Thor but very similar in coloring, were looking on in their stalls nearby, completely uninterested in the fact that the boy was flying, and the hole in the roof let in early afternoon light. Martha approached him, and waved a hand underneath him, checking for invisible supports. Finding none, she proceeded to push his shoulder. Clark hovered backwards, a panicked look crossing his face. He adjusted his body and he hovered differently. Gaining more confidence with each passing moment in the air, Clark adjusted again and then, grinning mischievously at his mother, twitched and shot up through the hole he'd fallen through.

"Clark!" Martha was yelling. "Come back down here this instant! You'll fall and break your neck! Clark Joseph Kent!"

There was a crashing noise from off camera, and Martha went running out of the barn while the horses' ears twitched irritably at the disturbance.

The Martha in the rocking chair next to the couch was smiling at the memory, looking at her son sitting on the couch with his fiancé pulled close and their son on her lap. He'd come a long way from those early days of flight. The tape ran for awhile and Martha's voice sounded in the background, talking to a panicking Clark who _really_ didn't want to fly again for as long as he lived, trying to calm him down.

There was a brief moment of static on the screen before the camera was in use again. Some time seemed to have passed; Clark looked older, probably about seventeen. He was driving fence posts into the ground with his bare hands, not even pre-digging holes for the posts to fit into. He was just walking to and from the truck bed where the posts were waiting, grabbing on, pushing it into the ground, and moving on to the next. Jonathan Kent was standing near the front of the truck, just watching and shaking his head with a smile on his face.

By the end of the tape, Clark was fast asleep on the couch behind Lois. Perry and Jimmy were still bubbling over with questions, but Martha made them leave the room silently to let her boy sleep. He'd done so much in the past twenty-four hours, including being exposed to kryptonite. He deserved his rest.

- - -

Clark woke to an empty living room two hours later. He peered through the walls and found Martha in the kitchen making lunch with Lois. They were talking softly and trying not to wake him. Jason was out in the yard playing with Shelby while Perry and Jimmy looked on. Jimmy had his camera out and had taken a few pictures of boy and dog, but he wasn't really focused on it. He was showing the Chief what he'd gotten in the past two weeks, and Perry seemed pleased.

Perry and Jimmy both jumped when the screen door slammed behind Clark and he joined them sitting on the porch steps. Perry had been laughing at the pictures Clark had taken of Jimmy on the horse, but the laughter died in his throat.

"Have a nice nap?" Jimmy asked after an awkward moment.

"Yeah," Clark said, trying to sound normal. "I haven't been that tired since… well… since right before that whole New Krypton thing, actually," and normalcy flew out the window. It was still weird to talk about his life as Superman with Lois, and he'd had several months to get used to talking with her about it, but now he was talking about New Krypton with Jimmy and Perry…

Perry cleared his throat in response to Clark's comment, and Jimmy didn't make eye contact. Clark ignored the tension in the air and watched his son play with the dog. The afternoon sun was shining brightly, not a cloud in the sky, and he was feeling all the better for it. Smiling, he saw that the sunlight seemed to be having the same effect on Jason. He just looked better than he had recently. The boy drew back his arm to throw the ball again and sent it flying; Jimmy and Perry drew in startled breaths. The ball would probably land a few farms away; not nearly as far as Clark had thrown upon his return, but much farther than expected of a normal boy throwing a ball for a dog.

Jason's jaw dropped, and he turned to look at his father on the steps. Clark was smiling, which brought a weak smile to Jason's lips, but he still looked nervous. Clark chuckled, "It's okay, Jason. I used to do that all the time. We've got plenty more old baseballs for Shelby somewhere."

Jason looked a little better, managing a more real smile. Clark stood and walked to the barn, quickly finding the old ball he was looking for and bringing it out to his son. "Don't throw it as hard as you can," he instructed. "Pick a spot for it to land and throw it there."

"Okay, Daddy," Jason said uncertainly, taking the ball and turning it over in his hands a few times. Clark joined Perry and Jimmy on the steps and waited for Jason to throw the ball again. Hesitant at first, Jason was eventually throwing the ball and controlling the distance it went pretty well. Clark smiled; his son had picked up on control a lot faster than he had.

Both Clark and Jason's heads tilted at the same moment, hearing the same thing. Jason looked confused, but Clark just sighed. "What's that sound, Daddy?"

"There's a bomb threat at the Sydney Opera House," he said, raising an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Jason to be able to hear it.

"Does that mean you have to go?"

"Yeah, that means I have to go," Clark smiled, hugging his son before changing into his Superman suit in a blue blur and taking off.

Jason sat on the porch, his head tilted to the side as though he was listening to the goings-on in Australia while Shelby pushed the ball towards his feet, annoyed that the boy wasn't playing anymore. Perry and Jimmy just stared at the boy. It was a lot to take in in so short a time.

"Boys, time for lunch!" Martha's voice came from inside, and Jason stuffed his fingers in his ears.

"Everything is so _loud_," he said, wincing. With his fingers in his ears, everything had gone quiet, though. He took them out for a moment and was assaulted by the sounds around them again. He could hear everybody's heartbeat, their breathing, the dog's annoying panting, and then there were the sounds from the world around them- the horses in their stalls, the bugs, the winds rustling in the corn. But that wasn't all he could hear. He could hear his father's voice in Australia, resolving the situation at the Opera, and he could hear his father's heartbeat and breathing too. It was weird because he couldn't hear the bad man with the bomb Velcroed to his chest's heartbeat or breathing, just Superman's. There was a plane flying over Kansas City that he could hear too, just flying, its engines roaring to keep it moving. He put his fingers back in his ears. Once again the blessed silence surrounded him. He could hear the air moving in and out of his lungs as he breathed, and his heart beating, but they were calming noises. They were his, not everybody else's. Slowly, he took his fingers out of his ears, still listening to his own heartbeat. Eventually, the loudness around him dulled down; he could still hear everything, or snatches of everything, but his heartbeat was louder, but not too loud. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. His mom and grandma were staring at him worriedly, and Uncle Perry and Jimmy looked worried too, and a little scared. He just smiled at them. "What's for lunch, Gramma?"

"Did the sounds go away, honey?" Lois asked.

"No," Jason shrugged. "But they're quieter now. My heart is louder, but it's not _too_ loud…. What's for lunch? I'm hungry!"


	12. Chapter 12

- - - **Chapter Twelve**

"I think he's developing super-hearing," Lois told Clark that evening when they finally had a moment to talk alone. They were standing out by the fence watching the sun set and talking. Jason had just gone to sleep, and Perry and Jimmy were sitting in the living room with Martha watching more of the old tapes, still trying to wrap their brains around everything.

"What do you mean?" Clark asked, not really surprised. Jason had heard what was going on in Sydney, after all.

"Well, after you left this afternoon he said that everything got really loud. He stood on the porch with his fingers in his ears for at least two minutes "

"Did he get it under control?"

"I think so," she shrugged. "He said he listened to his heartbeat and everything else got quieter. He was fine all through lunch and, I don't know. I think he'd say something about it to you if it was bothering him."

"I'm surprised he didn't mention it even if it didn't bother him," he said thoughtfully.

"Me too," Lois said. They stood in silence for awhile, looking out over the sea of corn at the last rays of the sun. "What makes this place so special, Clark?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why did your ship just happen to crash here and two people so remarkable as Martha and Jonathan Kent just happen to take you in? Why is it that even though you can do such amazing things you always come back to humble places like this to be yourself? What makes this sunset so special? You could choose any place on Earth, or in this solar system for that matter, to relax, and you come to Smallville and watch the sun set."

"Well," Clark said, thinking about it. "I don't know why my ship just happened to crash here, but I'm glad it did. Without Mom and Dad being who they are and teaching me what they did I would be a very different person," he shrugged, pulling her close as they both continued to gaze at the horizon. "I never wanted to be a superman, Lois. I just want to help people, and I've got a few remarkable talents that I can use to do that. I didn't ask for the fame or attention, but if that's what I've got to put up with to help people then so be it."

"Can I use that in the next Superman exclusive?" She asked, joking.

"Sure," he said, kissing her cheek and keeping her close. "As for choosing where I watch the sunset from… There's no place like home," they both smiled. "There's only one place better to see the sunset than right here, anyways."

"Where?"

"I'll show you," Clark said, and Lois smiled. They hadn't been flying in so long. She turned around in his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist and stepping onto his toes before they ascended. Clark took her straight up, above the clouds above the farm.

Lois sucked her breath in when she saw the sunset from their new vantage. The clouds below them were painted with color, rippling and changing like the reflections in a sea but much more brilliant. Above them, the oranges and reds melted to purple and navy, and then to black. "Clark," she breathed, taking it all in. Clark smiled at her, caressing her back gently

They stayed like that until the sun had completely set, and they were left hovering in the darkness. The tinge of purple on the horizon was the only thing to remind them of the beauty they had just witnessed.

"Thank you, Clark," she murmured into his chest, kissing his collarbone before looking up at him.

"For what?"

"For bringing me up here, for being here, for loving me as much as I love you," she listed off a few.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Lois," he said, smiling shyly. She smiled back at him before raising her lips to his. He quickly deepened the kiss, pulling her even closer, if that was possible.

Clark pulled back suddenly, and Lois made a noise at the back of her throat in protest. Clark smirked, kissing her forehead and dipping down into the clouds. "Clark?" She asked, kissing his jaw near his ear.

"There's a plane coming our way," he explained, closing his eyes and fighting back a pleased shudder that threatened to disrupt their flight pattern.

"And we wouldn't want them to recognize Lois Lane in a rather intimate flight with Superman?" She asked before taking his earlobe in her mouth and sucking gently. Again, it was all Clark could do to keep his mind on their flight.

"Well, there's that," he smiled. "And the fact that I'm not exactly dressed like Superman right now."

"I hadn't noticed," Lois said, moving back down towards his collarbone, and moving his shirt away. The bright blue of his suit peaked out at her and she smiled, resting her head on his shoulder and looking up at him, smiling.

"I like where you're going with this," he said, bringing them down slowly, "but we don't exactly have our bed to ourselves tonight."

"Crap," she sighed, but didn't move. Clark chuckled.

"Tomorrow night," he promised, kissing her forehead and quickening their descent. Lois heard the plane pass overhead just as they were touching down. "When we're home."

They landed and Clark bent his head and kissed her deeply one last time before they headed back into the house. Everything was dark now, the moon shining through the clouds. They walked back towards the house hand in hand, Clark already looking through the house and checking on its occupants. Jason was sleeping soundly, comfortable in his parents' bed, Martha was in the kitchen again brewing a pot of coffee, and Perry and Jimmy were sitting on the couch in silence. Whatever tape they had been watching had finished and they had moved onto the news.

"How's everybody inside?" Lois asked.

"I don't know," Clark said, narrowing his eyes. "I don't think Perry and Jimmy are taking this very well."

"I know," Lois agreed. "It'll be awkward on Monday when Perry gives the staff meeting to tell us to try and get a story on you."

"Yeah," Clark sighed. "I almost wish they'd be mad at me or something instead of just being… stunned."

"Well, it's kind of a big thing to find out," Lois shrugged, and he pulled her closer. "You know, mild mannered Clark Kent who makes a habit of tripping on himself can deflect bullets and fly."

"You took it alright," he said, sighing.

"I had that whole evening on the couch to think about it first, though," she shrugged. "But then I _did_ get made at you, if you remember."

"I remember," Lois wrapped her arm around him as they walked up the porch steps.

Whatever conversation there had been in the living room stopped when Lois and Clark entered, the screen door slamming behind them. "You have something that belongs to me," Clark's voice came from the television. Lois and Clark both looked at the screen in surprise.

There he was, walking up the dark steps of New Krypton towards Lex Luthor in his white trench coat. All eyes in the living room, including Martha's who had just come in with coffee for everybody, were glued to the TV. The quality of the tape wasn't very good, but there was a clear picture of four or five men kicking and beating Superman. Kitty Kowalski was to one side, clutching at her dog. Luthor stabbed Clark then, twisting the kryptonite shard in his back. Whoever was doing the filming was too far away to hear exactly what was being said, and the rain and wind were filling the microphone with static and whistling, but Clark's scream when Luthor twisted the kryptonite came through just fine. Clark got up then, limping away from Luthor and his goons, stumbling backwards before falling over the edge.

The sound of ceramic crashing onto the floor brought them all back to reality. Martha had dropped the three mugs and the pitcher she'd been holding, sending them crashing to the floor. The mugs had shattered, and the dropped pitcher had sent coffee all over the rug. She blinked and stopped looking at the TV, turning her eyes instead to her son. Clark just stood there, his arm still around Lois; they both had frozen in place with their eyes on the TV. Clark's face was inscrutable.

"The footage you just saw was found on a digital video camera found on New Krypton when the Genesis II was sent to explore what they could of it last week," the anchor explained, looking uncomfortable after seeing the footage they'd just seen. "The Genesis was redirected after suspicions arose concerning the aliens from the park. It was suspected that they could've landed on New Krypton in an attempt to excavate kryptonite, yet when the Genesis landed there was no sign of them. Instead, the astronauts found the digital camera and several clear crystals among other things resting on the surface of the continent," she said. The image shifted and showed a white lab room with silver tables; the crystals stolen from the Fortress were spread on one of the lab tables, the video camera and its memory chip were on a table nearby.

Perry turned the TV off when an official-looking scientist started explaining what they thought they'd found in the crystals. All faces turned to Clark, who hadn't moved.

Martha, still shaking, bent to pick up the things she had dropped. Clark bent down and took his mother's hands. She wouldn't meet his eyes, but she let him pull her upright and hug her. After a moment, she hugged him back. She wasn't crying, but she couldn't stop shaking.

"You shouldn't have had to see that," he told her softly.

"They shouldn't be playing that on national television," Lois said softly, "at least not without your permission."

Clark closed his eyes, keeping his mother upright as he moved her to her favorite chair. He crouched by her feet, holding her hands in her lap. "Mom?"

Martha looked at him, and Clark looked like he was about to say something, but then his head jerked to the side. He sighed, exasperated. "Why do tourists have to do stupid things _now_ of all times?" He asked nobody in particular. Lois smiled, he'd given similar sentiments previously at one time or the other; in the middle of dinner when he'd commented on the stupidity of road rage, or their first real minute of alone time in almost a day when he'd had to go put out a raging fire somebody had started by smoking in bed.

"I'll be right back," he promised, striding out of the room, squeezing Lois's hand gently when he passed.

"Did you know they did… _that _to him?" Martha asked after a moment, staring at the dark TV.

"I," Lois started, trying to think of what she could say to Clark's mother about what had happened so many months ago. "I didn't know they'd beat him like that," she said carefully. "I knew he was hurt, that he was stabbed… Richard and I found him in the water and got him into the seaplane and I pulled the kryptonite out… It didn't look like he was hurt other than that, though. He was fine as soon as I threw the kryptonite out the door; he flew off to go lift New Krypton into space."

"Why would they do that to him?" Martha asked, addressing no one in particular. "All he's ever done is help people…"

Lois couldn't answer that, she just sunk onto the couch next to Jimmy, not making eye contact.

- - -

"How did it go?" Lois asked when he returned. Everybody else jumped, not having heard him come in when he hadn't let the screen door slam behind him. Lois, of course, had been listening for the telltale whoosh of his landing.

Clark sighed, shaking his head and sitting at the table with everybody else. They all had coffee in front of them and looked worried. "Oh, you know," Clark shrugged. "I don't think I've ever gotten more pity when rescuing someone."

"What?" Jimmy asked, surprised.

"Well, anybody I rescued in the days after I left the hospital asked me if I was alright, but… Everybody I rescued tonight pitied me, apologized for what Luthor did…" he shook his head again. "It was a _year_ ago, it's ridiculous."

"But nobody knew it happened," Lois said, almost accusingly.

"I was supposed to tell people I got beat up?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes… no… No, but," she sighed. "It would've been nice to know before they played it on TV."

"It would've been nice if they hadn't played it on TV at all," Clark said.

"I have a feeling Superman is going to be avoiding channel twelve news cameras for awhile," Perry said, smirking. "And possibly writing a rather angry editorial? Or maybe just giving an interview for one?" Finally, Clark chuckled.

"Thank goodness," he said, draining the coffee his mother had put in front of him and standing up to refill it.

"What?"

"You two have both been so quiet," he said. "At least now you're talking like yourself." Perry pursed his lips. "And yes, it would probably be a good idea for Lois to write something about this."

"Are you okay, Clark?" Martha asked, watching him carefully as he returned to the table. "I know you're tired of us worrying, but… you're okay, right?"

"I'm okay, Mom," he assured her. "It's been one helluva Thursday, though."

"I'll second that," Jimmy said. Clark looked at him with pity.

"I'm sorry everything is coming out like this," he sighed. "When it rains it pours, I guess."

"Speaking of rain," Jimmy said, remembering the storm almost a week ago that Clark and Ron had gotten stuck outside in. "How do you feel about that type of weather?"

"It's just peachy," Clark said sarcastically, chuckling. Lois looked amused, but Perry and Martha looked lost. "When it rained last weekend," he explained after a moment, "we had a conversation about what Superman must think of flying in the rain."

They nodded, and Jimmy smiled, waiting for the rest of the answer. "Well," Clark shrugged. "I usually just fly above the clouds whenever I can, it's sunnier up there to begin with… The rain is just wet and annoying, I guess."

"You know what we should do?" Perry asked, looking around the room, waiting for somebody to read his mind.

"What?" Lois finally asked.

"We should have kids write into the _Planet_ with questions for Superman. Simple questions that kids would ask that adults wouldn't think of, like how Superman feels about the rain. It would make a great article in Features, Lois could write it up…" Perry was already planning the spread.

"Perry," Lois started, planning to shoot the idea down.

"Sure," Clark said, shrugging.

"Really?" Perry and Lois asked at the same time in completely different tones.

"Why not?" Clark asked.

"_Why_?" Lois countered.

"Great!" Perry said cheerfully.

"You do know that you're going to get thousands of questions in the mail as soon as you print that Superman will be answering questions," Lois informed them. "And that half the questions will come from adults pretending to be children."

"We could send representatives," Perry directed his gaze at Lois, "to school classrooms around Metropolis to pick up questions from children we know are children."

The night continued almost pleasantly, but Clark was withdrawn throughout it all. He was dwelling on Luthor. He'd swept all of Metropolis and found no sign of him. It was strange; impossible, really. How could a man escape from prison and then fall of the face of the Earth? To be reasonable, it _was_ Lex Luthor he was dealing with. But even Lex Luthor is just a man.


	13. Chapter 13

- - - **Chapter Thirteen**

The five of them spent most of Friday morning at the police station. Jason was bored out of his mind. The police had questioned Lois first, showing Jason how easy it was. Then Jason had answered the questions they had asked him, and then he was sent into a room with his Mom to wait for the others. They'd gotten their stories straight that morning, drilling into Jason the importance of keeping Clark's other identity a secret.

By noon they were done, and Jason was ready to run up the walls. The five of them walked to the park and bought hotdogs in silence, watching Jason run ahead. None of the adults were very happy. The police hadn't given them any information about the hunt for Luthor, saying that they didn't need to know, but that they'd be the first to know when the criminals were apprehended. Lois had glared, Clark had glared, Perry had been surprised to see Clark glare, and Jimmy had felt out of place; he was kind of on the outside of the situation, only there to corroborate the fact that Lois and Clark were both waiting in Smallville with the cell phone instead of just Lois.

"Can you go back and ask them about Luthor again?" Lois asked him as soon as they'd finished their hotdogs.

"Yeah," Clark said, waving goodbye to Jason for the moment and heading back to the police station.

"Superman!" The officer he'd just been questioned by said in surprise when he walked into the station.

"Officer," he said calmly, hiding his frustration for the moment. "Do you have any leads on the Luthor case?"

"Oh, Luthor, um," the man began paging through papers he hadn't even bothered to disturb for Clark a half hour ago. "Well, we just got statements from Lois Lane, her son, Clark Kent, Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen," he said, showing him the forms. "There's nothing new, though, so far as leads go. We sent the chips from the kryptonite block you told us about to be analyzed at the same base we've been sending the kryptonite found in those lead warehouses to be destroyed. So far they haven't turned up anything unusual… I'm sorry; I don't have any new information."

"Thank you, officer," he said, resisting the urge to sigh.

"And Superman?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about what Luthor did to you…"

"It's alright, Officer," Clark interrupted, that was the _last_ thing he wanted to talk about just now. "It happened almost a year ago. Right now we should focus on getting him back in prison where he belongs."

"Right," the officer said, still looking at him with pity. Clark turned and walked out of the police station, taking off and landing in a stand of trees near the park to change back into Clark.

"Anything new?" Lois asked when she saw him approaching.

"No, nothing," Clark said, running a distracted hand through his hair. "They sent samples of the kryptonite off to a military lab to be examined, but they haven't turned anything up. No new leads since yesterday… I was thinking about giving the city a once over after we get settled back home."

Lois just nodded, turning to watch Jason again.

- - -

Clark was beyond frustration. He had scoured the city, looking into everything and seeing plenty of things he didn't ever need to see again. He'd caught a number of drug dealers, but found no trace of Luthor or even any kryptonite. He'd listened in on the police questioning any inmates that even might've just passed Luthor in the hall for any clue as to how he escaped, but that was another mystery altogether. As it were, Luthor was suddenly very good at vanishing without a trace, be it from a maximum security prison or out from under Superman's nose.

He was startled out of his thoughts while in orbit by his cell phone. He'd completely forgotten he'd had with him let alone on. "H-hello?"

"Clark," it was Lois.

"Lois."

"Did you find anything?"

"No, absolutely nothing," he sighed. He seemed to be doing a lot of sighing lately.

"Well, why don't you come home then, Jason misses you and you promised you'd be home tonight," she said and he could practically see her smirking. "Where are you now, anyway?"

"In orbit over India," he said nonchalantly. Lois chuckled on the other end.

"I never expected to get that as an answer and believe it."

"At one time in my life I never expected to give it."

"So… have any ideas for dinner?"

"Don't feel like cooking?"

"Don't feel like pulling out the take out menus, thought I'd just let you pick something up on the flight home," she said.

"Ah."

"Jason said he wants something from Italy."

"Pasta or something else?"

"I think he had pasta in mind."

"Pasta it is. I'll be home shortly; I want to look around one more time."

"Clark…"

"Lois, I just need to check. He's going to come after you and Jason and I'm going to do everything I can to keep him from having the chance."

"I love you."

"I love you too, I'll be home soon."

A last circle of the world revealed nothing new. He stopped a gang fight in the back streets of New York City, and caught a car before it hit the water went it went over the edge of a bridge in Peru, but nothing came up regarding Luthor. Disappointed, he flew to Italy and bought dinner, arriving home about a half an hour after Lois's call.

"You'll catch him, yet," Lois assured him while they cleaned up dinner.

"I just don't understand how he disappeared so completely," Clark said, shaking his head.

"He's Lex Luthor, Clark."

"Even Lex Luthor shouldn't be able to disappear like that."

"You'll find him," he sighed. "C'mon, you're Superman. Of course you'll find him."

"It's a lot easier to say that when you're not the one trying to live up to it," Clark said. Lois put down the cup she'd been drying and turned to face him.

"I didn't mean it like that, Clark," she said quietly. "I'm just saying that he's going to be found eventually, and that you're probably going to be the one to find him. Just be patient. He _is_ Lex Luthor, after all. He's got quite an ego. Eventually he'll show up again and you'll be the one to put him in jail again."

"I just wish I knew where he went, how he disappeared so completely. It's unnatural."

"As if anything about Luthor is natural," Lois smirked. Clark just shook his head, continuing to put away the dishes Lois was drying. "Clark, you can't do everything, even if you _are_ Superman."

"You're full of contradictions tonight," he said tiredly.

"Clark," she said sharply, making him look at her. "You _are_ Superman. You have amazing powers. If anybody can do it, it's you, but you can't do _everything_. You've been out there all day looking for him, and Luthor is probably just biding his time to make you frustrated about it. Just wait. There are plenty of other things to worry about. You just need to relax for a minute and wait for him to make a mistake."

"You're good for my soul, Lois," he said, smiling.

"That's the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me."

"Well, I think I'm allowed one cheesy line every couple of months," he said.

"Okay, fine," she smirked right back. "But only because you're so honest about it."

And then he kissed her just to stop the useless chatter.

- - -

Superman paid a visit to General Lane's base on Sunday, recovering his crystals with as few words as possible. He wasn't happy that they had shared the tape they'd found. Not happy at all; it was only a matter of time before Jason saw it and started asking questions.

Monday morning came much to fast for the Lane/Kent household. Jason was entirely unaffected by his ordeal Thursday night and eager to get back to school. He'd missed Friday, after all, and would have make-up homework. Lois and Clark, on the other hand, had to go deal with Jimmy and Perry. Not that they didn't trust their friends, but it was a huge secret to keep and it would be awkward at first, no doubt.

They dropped Jason off, Lois going into the school with him to tell Mrs. Peterson what had happened and ask her to keep a close eye on him. Mrs. Peterson was surprised that they were bringing him back to school after something like that, but when she saw Jason already at his desk and trying to catch up instead of playing with the other children she realized that it was probably Jason's idea to come back so early. Lois walked out of the front doors only to be scooped up by familiar hands and brought sailing through the skies toward the _Daily Planet._

"You know, that never gets old," she said as they landed.

"I have to agree," he smirked, pecking her lips lightly before they both got in the elevator to begin their day.

They had emailed their articles to their office computers the evening before so that all they had to do was print them out and turn them in. After finishing the pieces they'd been sent out of Metropolis for, Clark had written the blurb that would tell the world about their engagement and their son, while Lois had written about Luthor's most recent evil act. At one time it would've been difficult for her to write about something that happened to her or her family, but that time had passed. She made a point of not reading them after they were published, just thinking about getting the information out there. It was a therapy in itself; telling the blank page on her laptop all her woes and then publishing it. At least Clark had been there this time to help her decide what to leave in and what she didn't need the world to know.

The morning staff meeting passed without a hitch. Jimmy watched Clark through most of it. He stood in the back near the door, easily blending in with the background. He gave a little wave and a cheesy smile when he noticed Jimmy looking, and Jimmy had given him a solemn nod back. Perry was lecturing them about the next issue. It was all about Luthor. He ordered Lois to write the article she'd already written about the weekend's events, and just about every other section got something about Luthor or the kryptonite. He only made eye contact with Clark once, and it seemed to be entirely on accident. He had been assigning one of the more science-type writers a story about the military base trying to find a way to destroy the kryptonite and had just so happened to look at where Clark was standing. It had taken him a beat to realize who he was looking at and another to remember just who it was. He had actually missed a beat in his lecture, causing the entire staff to stare at him. He'd soldiered on, though, ignoring the slip and making sure not to look at Clark for the rest of the meeting.

"KENT! LANE! OLSEN! In my office," he called twenty minutes after the meeting. The three of them walked in dutifully, Lois and Clark with the 'getting to know you' articles in hand, and notes about their newest assignments. Jimmy had a number of prints in his hand as he held the door open for the pair of them to pass through.

"Chief?" Lois asked, setting her completed article on his desk before sitting in one of the waiting chairs. Clark followed suit, but let Jimmy take the other chair in favor of standing behind Lois's.

"Jimmy, what've you got for pictures to go with these?" Perry asked, glancing at the three short pieces he'd just received.

"Um," he shuffled through his folder and produced a few prints. "Just these, Chief."

The picture he'd chosen for Lois's side was of Lois sitting on the swinging bench on the porch. She didn't even seem to notice the camera was there, looking instead out at the yard, or maybe remembering something. There was a sunset behind her filtering through the trees in the yard to leave patches of beautiful red and yellow light around her. Clark's picture had captured something people around the office rarely saw; Clark was in jeans and a t-shirt, down on one knee getting the ball out of Shelby's mouth with an easy smile in front of the barn. The picture for the middle had the three of them; Lois, Jason, and Clark; sitting on the steps of the Kent house with the ice cream they'd brought back after playing at the park Thursday after lunch. Jason had managed to get ice cream on his nose and was smiling broadly.

"Good, this will do," Perry said, putting the photos in a folder with the articles before turning to the three of them again. "Here's the ad we're running in the afternoon issue. We're calling it 'Questions for Superman.'"

"Isn't that a little soon after the news started playing that clip," Jimmy asked, glancing at Clark. "I mean, you're going to get a lot of questions about that."

"I hope the first graders we're asking haven't seen it!" Lois said. They'd spent the entire weekend keeping Jason from seeing it, not an easy task; especially with his developing super-hearing.

"Maybe it'll distract people from it," Perry said, shrugging. "Anyway, we're running with it. I've already got Sam writing a little blurb to put on the front page about it."

He made it clear there was no way he was letting it go. Perry gave them the article about the video. Lois would write it and Clark would give the interview, of course, but they both would have bylines. Perry wanted to know details that had been gleaned over during the New Krypton fiasco, Superman's opinion of channel twelve news, everything. Clark made no promises, but the pair of them set to work planning out the article anyways. They brought Jason back to the _Planet_ after school so that they could finish up while he sat at an empty desk and did his homework.

Clark was writing himself a few Superman quotes when Jason appeared by his knee, staring up at the TV screen mounted on the pillar nearby. "Daddy?" He asked, eyes glued to the screen.

"Yes?" Clark asked, finishing typing out the quote before looking up at the screen Jason was focused on. His jaw would've dropped if he hadn't seen the footage so many times already. There he was getting the crap kicked out of him again. He looked back at his son as he fell down off the growing continent on TV. "Jason," he started, not really knowing what to say. Above them, the news anchor was telling the world about how the tape had been found with crystals that Superman had come to reclaim Sunday afternoon without a word of explanation.

"Daddy, why does that man hate you so much?" Jason asked again. He looked like he was about ready to cry. Clark picked him up, pushing his chair back so there would be room to have his son on his lap.

"I don't know, Jason, but I'm okay," he said, holding him close. "Remember when you found me in the water when you were in the plane?"

"Yes," Jason nodded, looking him in the eye.

"Well that was right after what just happened on TV," he explained. "You found me and Mommy and Richard got us away."

"But then you went back and had to go to the hospital after you fell again."

"That's right," Clark said. Lois had come over now, noticing that something was wrong as soon as Jason let Clark pull him onto his lap; Jason didn't like to be hugged like that in public. "And then I got better and we put the bad man in jail."

"But he got out and he hurt you again," Jason said, touching the spot where Luthor had scratched him with kryptonite.

"But I got better again, and as soon as I find him he'll be back in jail. This time forever," he assured the little boy. "Jason, there are always going to be people who try to hurt us. That's why we have to keep the secrets that we do. But we'll always get better; the bad guys can't hurt us for long."

Jason just nodded and Clark pulled him close again, noticing Lois standing at the corner of the desk. He smiled at her, rubbing their son's back gently to calm him down. "Maybe we should go home," Lois suggested, and Clark nodded.

"Hey, buddy- why don't you go grab your backpack and we'll head home," Clark said, pulling Jason away from his chest. The boy just looked tired, like everything that had happened in the past week had finally caught up to him. Smiling, Clark shut down the computer and stuffed his papers into his briefcase; he did all of this one-handed because Jason refused to let go of him. Lois came over a second later, carrying Jason's backpack and jacket. "Alright, Jason, put your jacket on while I get mine on…" Jason did so, latching on to Clark again as soon as Clark bent down to pick him up.

The three of them made their way to the elevator, waving goodbye to Perry when they caught his eye through the glass door of his office. Clark pushed the down button and Lois gave him a look. "Going _down_?"

"A car ride will do us good," Clark shrugged. Jason needed the normalcy of riding in a car. Flying, seeing the super suit, probably wasn't the best thing at the moment. "It's nice and normal."

"If you say so."

They rode in silence, watching the people and buildings pass slowly by, the other cars on the rode moving just as haltingly as they did. The apartment wasn't very far from the _Planet_, but it was long enough; Jason seemed much more relaxed by the time they arrived home. "What's for dinner?" He asked, always thinking with his stomach.

"I think we've got some frozen pizzas begging to be eaten in the freezer," Lois said, glancing at Clark for confirmation.

"What kinds?" Jason asked, seriously considering vetoing the decision if there wasn't sausage.

"Pepperoni," Jason made a face, "three cheese," another face, "and sausage, I believe," Jason smiled.

"Sausage!"

"Sausage it is," Clark smiled.

- - -

"Lois, your phone is ringing again," Clark informed her. They had just lay down for the night after Clark had done a quick sweep of the city and found nothing. The entire city seemed to be waiting for some news on Luthor, even criminals.

"I can't hear it," Lois told him, rolling over. She had no need to pick up her phone again; Jason was safe in the next room and she didn't want to have to worry about anything tonight.

"I can," Clark sighed; everything seemed louder when he wanted it to be quiet so he could sleep.

"Well why don't you get it then?" Clark sighed and got out of bed, grabbing the same robe he'd worn in response to the last late night phone call before heading out into the kitchen where their phones were charging.

"We should just move the chargers into the bedroom," he mumbled. "It'd be a lot less walking around when they ring at night."

Lois chuckled and watched his silhouette disappear from the doorway.

"Hello?" He tried to sound tired and grumpy so that the person on the other end would get the idea and make it quick.

"Hello? Isn't this Lois's cell…" there was a pause like the man on the other end was checking the number on his screen. "Who is this?"

"Uh, Clark Kent, who is this?" Clark asked though he'd already recognized the voice and the phone number to be General Lane's.

"Oh, Clark, hi. This is General Lane," he sounded confused. "Isn't this Lois's cell phone?"

"Yes, it is."

"So why did you answer it?"

"Because she's asleep."

"Well can you wake her? It's important, I have to talk to her right now," he sounded worried.

"And you can't just tell me? I can let her know in the morning or…"

"No, I need to talk to _her_ now," his voice was hard.

"Okay," Clark sighed. It sounded important, but Lois was really tired, everything that had happened in the past weekend was catching up. He held the phone away from his face so he could get Lois to take it. "Lois… Lois I know you didn't fall asleep that fast…"

"I think we should turn all phones off tomorrow night and just _sleep_ for once," Lois grumbled, sticking her hand out and taking the phone without taking her head off the pillow. Clark chuckled and handed her the phone, throwing his robe over the chair next to hers, and collapsing onto the bed next to her. "Daddy? Why are you calling so late?"

"Honey, I need you to contact Superman for me," came his voice through the phone. Lois glared at him, telling him with her eyes that he could've just kept the phone.

"Why?"

"I need to talk to him, as soon as possible."

"About…?"

"It's classified, Lo-lo."

"So?"

"So I need you to get in contact with Superman for me, send him to the base. I can't tell you anything about why."

"Fine," she said. "How urgent is this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, should I go stand on the balcony and shout for him, or should I go jump off the balcony and shout for him?"

"_That's_ how you get in contact with him?"

"No, yes, well, not anymore."

"Just get in contact with him as soon as you can. Preferably sometime tonight."

"G'nite, Daddy."

"Goodnight, Lois."

They hung up. "So what's going on that you need to throw yourself off a balcony to talk to me about?"

"I dunno."

"What?"

"He wouldn't tell me. It's classified," she made a face.

"So I should probably go find out what it is he wants."

"Probably," Lois sighed.

"Half an hour," he promised, getting out of bed and spinning into the suit before leaning over to kiss her goodnight. "I'll be back in half an hour."

"You better be. I hate sleeping alone."

He smiled and opened the window, letting the night breeze float in around him a moment before taking off.

"General Lane?" He asked, landing in front of the older man, and biting back a smile when the seasoned General jumped.

"Superman!"

"Lois just jumped off her balcony," he said, watching his soon-to-be father-in-law's jaw drop. "Now, she hasn't done that in years to get my attention. What was so urgent?"

"Oh, well, um," the general was trying to get his composure back. He cleared his throat, "Just follow me, please."

He led the way to one of the lead lined domes that he knew housed the kryptonite from the warehouses and from Luthor's most recent attack. Clark stopped just outside the doors, glaring at the back of the man's head.

"Why do you want me to go in there?"

"We found some things with the kryptonite samples," the General explained, pulling out a key card and swiping it through the reader. The door popped open with a pressurized his and it was all Clark could do not to step away. He couldn't feel any kryptonite radiation, but he knew it was there. "Don't worry, Superman. All the kryptonite in sealed in lead multiple times. We've taken all the precautions we could think of."

"Thank you," he said, still wary as he entered the dome.

**Jason is probably going to need some major therapy when he's older.**


	14. Chapter 14

**- - - Chapter Fourteen**

It was odd to walk through the dome covered lab and not be able to see through anything. Everything was lead shielded. Boxes and crates on the shelves were clearly labeled 'KRYPTONITE: DO NOT REMOVE.' If that didn't make Clark nervous nothing could. He was surrounded by the one thing that could kill him and the only thing stopping it from doing so was a few inches of lead packaging. He didn't let any of the fear show on his face though, he was Superman.

General Lane led him down a thin aisle toward the main research station. Clark felt the exposed kryptonite before he saw it, but it didn't feel quite like either form he'd been around yet. Then he realized why, with great relief. There were two small pieces of kryptonite on the lab table, they were mostly hidden by the lead guard, but small glass windows on top allowed enough radiation through to make their presence known.

"The scientists here have been studying these samples very closely," the General explained. "There are small differences in their molecular construction. We can only assume that those differences are what change their effect on you."

Clark nodded, studying the lab results on the printouts next to the samples.

"We've also been trying to find ways to safely destroy the mass amounts of kryptonite that have come into our possession without harming you or the environment," the General continued, shifting something on the lead containers to completely conceal the kryptonite from sight. Clark immediately felt better. They moved down a few steps to a larger chamber. The General manipulated the controls and suddenly a small piece of kryptonite appeared. Clark's knees almost buckled; it was one of the pieces from New Krypton and there was no shielding.

The General, however, didn't seem to notice. The kryptonite settled into the middle of the chamber, looking perfectly harmless and making Clark feel nauseous. The General pushed another button and a weight dropped from the ceiling of the chamber landing on the kryptonite. After several minutes of pounding, the kryptonite was reduced to fine green dust. Clark's knees didn't feel like they were going to give out anymore, but his stomach was still doing back flips. He looked at General Lane curiously just as fire was introduced to the chamber.

After a few seconds, the flames died down and there was nothing but charred black ash. Surprisingly, Clark felt completely normal. He looked at the General again, this time in awe.

"I take it you can't feel any ill effects?"

"None," he shook his head more in disbelief than anything else.

"Good, we hoped it would be this simple," he said, turning to look at the rows upon rows of shelves packed with boxes full of kryptonite. "We have a lot to destroy, and this is nice and cheap."

"Was that all, General?" He asked, ready to go home.

"Yes, thank you Superman. Tell my daughter hello for me next time you see her."

"I'll do that."

A Clark disappeared into the night sky he wondered, _Now why couldn't that wait till morning?_

**It's short, I know. And it was all exposition, rather boring stuff. Sorry!**


	15. Chapter 15

**- - - Chapter Fifteen**

Jason sat at his desk, kicking one of the bars that supported the desk in front of him and getting annoyed looks every now and again from the girl, Jenna, in that desk. He'd decided to stop after she first gave him that look, but kicking the desk was more fun. Today they were learning about the planets, but somebody had asked about Superman, being an alien, so now they were talking about Superman.

At first it had been cool to hear his Dad's story, but now he was getting really uncomfortable. Mrs. Peterson had just finished telling them about how Superman was from a different planet, called Krypton, and how he had arrived out of nowhere after that planet had blown up and begun saving people in his blue suit. Jason had wanted to correct her, tell her that Superman had arrived when he was a very little boy and had been raised by his Gramma Martha, but he held his tongue, kicking the seat a little harder.

"And I'm sure some of you have seen the _Daily Planet_ is going to be doing an interview with Superman soon," Mrs. Peterson said, suddenly sounding excited. "Our class will be one of those that gets to write questions for Superman and give them to Lois Lane, Jason's mom," everybody turned to look at Jason, who had frozen in his chair. "If everybody wants to take out a sheet of paper, we can start on those questions now; Miss Lane will be coming by this afternoon."

Desks popped open, and notebooks were brought out. Kids were chattering happily, asking each other what good questions were and trying to make sure they didn't all have the same question.

"Hey, Jason," his friend Matt asked, poking him in the back to get him to turn around. "You've seen him around, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Right, 'cuz he and your mom are friends, right?"

"I guess," Jason said. He didn't like lying to his best friend, but he wasn't really lying, just keeping secrets. He didn't like that either, though.

"Well, you much know more about him than anybody else, I mean, you can just ask him anything you want when he visits to get interviews."

"Not really," Jason shrugged, pulling out his notebook.

"Oh," Matt sounded disappointed. Jason wasn't sure if he should feel glad that he had kept his secrets, or sad that he couldn't tell his friends just how special he was.

"Are you okay, Jason?" Mrs. Peterson asked, coming up beside his desk and noticing that he'd just gotten out his notebook and now was staring at a blank page.

"Mhmm," Jason said, looking up at her and putting on a Clark-worthy smile.

"Okay," she said, smiling back warmly.

Jason returned his thoughts to the paper in front of him. There were plenty of questions he had for his dad, but most of them could be answered that night when they went flying together. They weren't really normal questions for this sort of thing: _Are you going to be home for dinner tonight? Will you bring me pasta from Italy again sometime soon? Or maybe Chinese from China, that'd be cool. Will you take me to see the Eiffel Tower? Can I get glasses like you? How come your planet was destroyed? Am I an alien too because I'm your son?_ But that last one was part of the secret. He definitely couldn't ask that one.

Jason started kicking Jenna's seat again. She turned around and glared at him. "Jason, stop kicking my seat!"

"Sorry," everybody in the class was looking at him and he turned bright red.

"Ah, the trials of childhood," a familiarly arrogant voice came from the back of the classroom, near the door. Jason stiffened in his seat, turning around slowly. The color drained from his face.

"Lex Luthor…" Mrs. Peterson said, her mouthing hanging open slightly.

Lex strode into the room confidently, a handgun held comfortably in one hand, an imperfect cube of kryptonite in the other. Jason felt the usual sensations that usually came up when he was exposed to kryptonite; the air rushed from his lungs, his joints hurt, he felt like he might throw up, and his head hurt. This time, though, he didn't pass out; there wasn't enough in Luthor's palm for that, and Luthor seemed to know it.

"Young Mr. Lane, I do believe you'll be coming with us, now," Luthor said, smiling and coming toward him. The gun wasn't pointed at anything specifically, but it was still threatening. Nobody moved. "C'mon then, Jason."

"No," Jason whispered, pushing himself out of his desk and going to hide behind the teacher's larger desk. Mrs. Peterson was still frozen in place between the desk and Luthor. Luthor leveled the gun at the desk and Mrs. Peterson had the presence of mind to move away, rushing to the far corner as Luthor fired three bullets straight through the desk.

Jason quaked below it, feeling one of the bullets bounce off his back and another skim narrowly past his elbow. Luthor was getting closer, and so was the kryptonite. Somehow, Jason knew that if the kryptonite got any closer the bullets wouldn't bounce off of him. "Daddy!" He whispered, hoping that his father's ears were tuned to him.

"Idiot human!" He heard an unfamiliar voice say, presumably speaking to Luthor. "The son of Krypton is sure to have heard that! We must leave at once!"

"Not without the prize," Luthor said closing the distance between himself and the desk. He came around and stuck his hand underneath to grab Jason before hastily pulling it back and crying out. "The little menace bit me!" he growled, sticking his hand under again and avoiding Jason's teeth, pulling him out by the elbow instead.

"No!" Jason yelled, desperate tears reaching his eyes. "No! Lemme go! Superman! Superman help!"

"Shut it," Luthor commanded, sticking the cube of kryptonite into Jason's breast pocket and watching smugly as the boy finally passed out.

"Imbecile," the bald man who had accompanied him said, pulling out a strange glass controller and typing in a code. There was a popping noise and the two bald men disappeared taking Jason with them.

The silence in the room was finally broken by Jenna's terrified screams. Teachers from nearby classrooms came running to find out what was wrong and the Principal wasn't far behind. Mrs. Peterson, shaking, had the presence of mind to call the police. Superman arrived seconds later, having heard the gunshots and his son's whispered pleas.

"What happened?" He asked as police sirens approached outside. He walked over to the desk, examining the bullet holes and finding one of the bullets crushed flat; he immediately knew who had been hiding under the desk, who had been shot at. He stood up, focusing all the intensity of his gaze on Mrs. Peterson, ignoring the terror of the other students.

"There were two bald men, Lex Luthor and one I didn't recognize," she stammered, looking at her desk.

"Where did they go?" His voice was full of calm that he didn't feel.

"I- I don't know!"

"What do you mean?" His frustration began to eat through his stoic façade.

"The other bald man, he had this glass device," she said, not looking at Superman. "He pressed buttons and all three of them just disappeared!"

"A _glass_ device?"

"Yes, it was made of clear glass. I could see the sparks traveling through it," if the room weren't full of children Clark would've sworn under his breath. Instead, he just glared all the more intently at the desk, catching himself just before he set it on fire.

"Thank you, Mrs. Peterson," he said, just as the police were entering the classroom. They looked relieved to see Superman there, but only for a moment, until they saw his dark expression.

Clark flew out the window he'd come in through, pulling his cell phone off his belt as he did and dialing Lois's cell number.

"Clark, what's going on?"

"Luthor has Jason."

"_WHAT?!_"

"I-"

"What happened, Clark? What's going on?!"

"I'm coming back to the _Planet_. Meet me on the roof."

"No! You should look for him! You have to find him, Clark!"

"We need to talk first, Lois. I need you to look some things up for me while I'm out looking."

"Clark-"

"Meet me on the roof," he hung up and put the phone back on his belt. A few seconds later his ringtone played again, but he ignored it, landing on the roof of the _Daily Planet_ and waiting for Lois. He looked through the roof and ceilings down to the level of the bullpen and saw that Lois was waiting for the elevator with her cell phone glued to her ear. She was trying not to panic or alert the other _Planet_ staff members to what was going on, but most of them were already staring at her. She had her coat and purse and was practically in tears; Jimmy and Perry were on their way to see what the matter was, but she didn't notice them.

The door to the elevator closed before the two men could catch up to her, but Clark saw them turn towards the stairs, knowingly making their way to the roof as she ascended in the elevator.

"What the _hell_, Clark!" Lois said, marching off the elevator and looking like she'd like to hit him. Clark was too preoccupied, though. He had his eyes closed, listening desperately for the familiar beat of his son's heart.

"I can't hear it, Lois," the desperation and loss in his voice was enough to redirect Lois's anger.

"Can't hear what?"

"His heartbeat. I can't hear Jason's heartbeat," his voice caught in his throat and he turned to face his fiancé. Her face was pale and she looked like she might fall to the ground; he grabbed her elbow before her knees collapsed.

"Is he… does that mean… Clark?"

"It doesn't mean he's dead," he said, looking into her eyes. "He could just be too far away for me to distinguish between his and anybody else's, or he could be surrounded by lead…" the gears in his head kept turning but he couldn't put a voice to his thoughts.

"Clark, you have to go look for him. You have to get to where you can hear his heartbeat around the others," she had tears in her eyes but she refused to let them fall.

"I know, but… Lois," he made her look him in the eyes. "I need you to go and look through all the old files on Luthor and anybody he was ever in line with."

"Clark, what, no! I want to come with you!"

"No, I need you to look for places for me to look at," he explained. "Last time I didn't even know where to start looking. It was complete chance that Luthor had only gone downtown. I was lucky to find them as quickly as I did… I've already checked all of Metropolis. They aren't here. Now, I don't know how they got so far away so fast, but they did. I need you to do some research and find out where they could've gone. I don't care how far away it is, or how ridiculous it seems."

"Clark…"

"Lois, I don't want to be flying blind up there," he could feel her shaking in his arms.

"Fine, but I want you to stay on the line with me," she held up her cell phone in between them.

"I can do that," he said, dialing her number. She hit the 'talk' button so that they were connected. Lois sighed, stepping back from him, towards the elevator.

"Clark," she hesitated. "Just kill him this time, stop him for good."

"Lois, I can't…"

"I know, just…" They were interrupted when Jimmy and Perry burst out of the stairwell, both completely out of breath.

"Whatsgoingon?!" Jimmy gasped, looking between them with some confusion when he saw the cell phones. Lois let out a whimper, backing towards the elevator again.

"I'm going to start in Metropolis and work my way out, do the same with your research," Clark told Lois, leaping into the sky and quickly disappearing into the clouds.

Lois backed the rest of the way into the now open elevator, and punched the 'door close' button. Perry and Jimmy slipped inside before the doors closed, not wanting to brave the stairs again.

"Lois, what's going on?" Perry asked after he caught his breath.

"Jason," Lois said, her voice cracking. "Luthor has Jason again."

"Oh no," Perry muttered.

"What can we do to help?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know," Lois said quietly.

"Just find where he might be," Clark said through the phone. Lois was still shaking, but made it to her desk in record time, booting up the computer and immediately putting Luthor's name into the search engine both for the internal _Planet_ archives and for the internet.

- - -

"The Caribbean, check the Caribbean," Lois said into her phone. It was late; everybody but she, Perry, and Jimmy had gone home for the night. Perry had ordered take-out a few hours ago, but most of it was left untouched. Lois had been searching nonstop and relaying the information to Clark as she found it, knowing he would remember every single word she said. They had long since gone through all the likely places he could be hiding, running out of Metropolis hideouts and accomplices within minutes. Now they were onto the extreme possibilities. Anyplace Luthor had ever hidden money, committed crimes, or vacationed was relayed and Clark checked every single one.

They had thought they'd come close when they'd discovered that he'd come into possession of a resort in South Africa, but it was nothing but a resort. Lois was near exhaustion when Clark finally came back to the bullpen looking emotionally, if not physically, drained.

"Saved you chow mein," Lois said, handing him the sealed white take out box. He took it, picking up chopsticks and eating distractedly while he looked at the results on her computer screen. He set the box aside when it was empty and his hand trailed up and down Lois's back absentmindedly while they continued to look.

- - -

"I hear you play the piano," Luthor said as Jason came around. The young boy blinked, looking around with wide eyes. It looked like they were back on the _Gertrude_. The room was exactly the same; even the piano was where it had been before he had pushed it across the room to save his mom. The only thing that didn't quite fit was the lack of motion. There was no gentle rocking that was usually present when on a boat, but that didn't register in Jason's young mind.


	16. Chapter 16

**- - - Chapter Sixteen**

It was really hot. Really, really hot. But it didn't really bother Jason, just made him wonder why it was so warm. Usually, his curiosity would have moved him to explore his rather large prison by now, but he didn't really feel like moving. Wherever Luthor had gone, it wasn't far. The bald man kept the kryptonite with him at all times, keeping it close enough to Jason that he couldn't help but feel sick. Add that to the heat and it made him miserable. So instead of exploring the room, Jason sat in the chair his mom had sat in last time they were on the _Gertrude_, and waited for something to happen.

It had been only a few hours since he'd been taken from his classroom, but it felt like much longer. He had no idea how he had gotten here, or how many people were outside guarding him, and he was terrified. He had tried to sleep after he had eaten the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Luthor had brought him. Under normal circumstances he would never have accepted food from that man, but he was really hungry and Luthor hadn't been threatening him when he handed over the sandwich. It had been a few hours and he still felt fine, at least so far as the sandwich was concerned.

Jason fell into a restless sleep, waking up and calling for his dad a number of times only to be greeted by a hot, dark room and silence.

- - -

Lois was asleep on the couch in Perry's office and Clark was out flying over the city again. They had made no breaks in their search, having exhausted all the information they had and themselves. Clark had checked everything they'd come up with multiple times, coming up empty and more desperate. He hadn't been flying around saving people like he usually would and the police station had called Lois's cell phone at one point, asking her where she was. She'd only cleared her throat, told them she wasn't in contact with him, and hung up.

Perry had sent Jimmy home, seeing that the young man was completely useless. Perry himself was pacing the main aisle of the bullpen wishing he hadn't given up smoking his cigars indoors. The elevator dinged and revealing an exhausted-looking Clark. He was wearing his usual three piece suit, but his glasses were tucked in a pocket and Superman's spit curl was still in place.

"Nothing?" Perry asked, dropping into the nearest chair.

"Nothing," Clark said, sounding just as depressed as he looked. He plopped down at Lois's desk, glancing through the office equipment to see her asleep on the couch. She looked almost peaceful. He tapped a few buttons on the computer and was surprised to see that she had a new message, the time stamp showing that it was less than an hour old. "Who would send her an email at this time of night?" He wondered out loud, opening her inbox.

The message was short, including a web address and instructions to go to it within the hour or her son would die, and it was signed L.L.

Clark went to the web page, sending Perry to wake Lois.

"Clark?" She asked, running over to him a little unsteadily after just waking up. He glanced up with worried eyes.

"Lex Luthor," he said, getting out of the chair to let her sit in front of the screen. The page was simple. A black background with two pictures on it. One was a webcam connection waiting for her to activate her own before it would engage, the second was a still shot of Jason sitting on a piano bench looking terrified.

"That's the _Gertrude_," Lois said softly, staring at her son.

"It was taken before?" Clark asked, not remembering Lois saying anything about being photographed.

"No," she looked bewildered.

Clark was gone in seconds, opening Perry's office window and leaping into the air before his clothes could even settle onto the couch Lois had just vacated.

Clark flew to the spot where he had dropped the larger half of the _Gertrude_ into the ocean, a spot too close for comfort to where New Krypton had been. He peered into the depths, looking for any sign of the ship or his son but found nothing. He was about to give up when a strange quality of part of the sea bed caught his eye. When he looked directly at it or tried to x-ray it, it seemed completely normal, but when he wasn't really _looking_ at it, it seemed to be glowing. Like something was hidden beneath a rock but casting light around the edges. But there was no way the remains of a ship could be hidden under a rock, and he could see straight through the spot so it couldn't be hidden by lead. Almost reluctantly, Clark descended towards the ocean surface. _Could this be it?_

He was about to sink beneath the water when his cell phone rang. It was Lois.

"Lois?"

"Superman," she said, sounding odd.

"Lois?" He asked again, she never called him Superman anymore. When they were in public she called him Kal-El; it had something to do with not liking to call him something she had come up with for an article when she knew him so much better than that.

"Superman, I need you to come to the _Daily Planet_," she said, her voice was tense, like she was forcing it to sound calm and, to his ears, failing miserably.

"Am I on speakerphone?" He asked.

"No," she said and he could practically see her pulling a confused face just by the tone of her voice.

"Okay, I think I found where Luthor is hiding Jason," he could hear her breathing pick up on the other end. "Do you still want me to come back to the _Planet_?"

"Yes," she said after a moment.

"_Stop answering his questions!_" He heard an oddly muted voice that was vaguely familiar. "_He comes to you now or I kill your son!_"

"Superman," she said, her voice catching in her throat.

"Can I have five minutes?" He asked carefully. "I want to look at what I found… he might be here Lois, right underneath me… if I can get to him before he can do anything you won't have to worry about me showing up at the _Planet_."

"Five minutes?" She asked, seeming to ask the muted voice more than him.

"_The bastard's son is in danger and he wants five minutes?_" Luthor's voice asked, then laughed. "_See how much he cares for you, Miss Lane? See how much the alien cares for the boy who is supposed to be his son?_"

"Be here in five minutes," she told him, her voice filled with pain.

"I love you, Lois," he said confidently. "I promise I'll get Jason back. If this doesn't work I'll be there before the time is up. Call me if anything changes."

"Goodbye, Superman," she said as emotionlessly as she could. He imagined her playing the part of jilted lover for Luthor's sake. She had obviously triggered the webcam and come in contact with the man. He didn't want to think about the images she was seeing, the images that were probably being transmitted from below him.

The water was strangely warm, and it only got warmer the closer he got to the anomalous spot on the ocean floor. As he got closer, the image got sharper. It was some sort of force shield. It rippled and flashed, looking like an energized form of water. Clark inspected it, finally able to see through the surface now that he was so close.

The _Gertrude_ sat in the center of the sphere, sitting flat on the ocean floor, bottom half of the hull sunk into the ocean floor. The rock around it was red hot, explaining the heat that was leaking away from the spot, and probably powering the force shield. Strange sounds flowed away from the ship, distorted by water and force shield. He could hear four different heart beats, but they all ran together, impossible to distinguish between them or recognize a specific one. There was the crackling of a speaker, probably Luthor listening to one of his operas, but it was just static below the rest of the noises. He could hear voices but couldn't hear the words. If he kept listening like this he was going the right way for a headache, something he hadn't dealt with since his hearing had been developing.

The _Gertrude_ was whole again, everything back to where it had been, both halves reunited, and everything inside back in place. There was air around the ship, as though it were sailing on the heated rocks in its own bubble. The lead pod that the Linirans who called themselves the Kings had arrived in rested on the ocean floor next to the boat. It looked innocent, much less noticeable than the ship itself; just another lumpy rock on the bottom of the ocean. There was a crack in it, showing that the Kings had gotten themselves out.

Remembering his time limit, Clark flew through the force shield and landed on the ocean floor. It sent a shiver up his back but nothing more. Once inside everything was crisp and much clearer, if incredibly warm. The water that had soaked through his hair and clothes evaporated after a few seconds due to his body heat and the heat around him, making him worry about his son trapped in such a place.

The sounds that had been distorted were suddenly clear; he could hear Jason's heartbeat as well as Luthor's, and two that he didn't know. Jason was breathing fast, frightened. Luthor's music was playing loudly in a room separate from the one Jason was in. Luthor had Jason in the main section of the ship, a laptop with a webcam perched on top of the piano as the pair of them sat there, Luthor threatening Jason for Lois's 'entertainment.' The two Kings that were left, both bald, were having an argument of some kind in the room Luthor's opera was playing from. One seemed to get particularly irked and pulled out his glass gun, shooting the stereo and stopping the music. Both seemed calmer after that, though still upset about something.

Silently, Clark lifted off again, flying to the door and entering silently.

**So sorry this is kind of a cliffhanger thing- - - I'm not going to be able to update until Monday the 19th, it's spring break and my laptop won't have internet. I'll be writing (hopefully) so I should have a nice long chapter ready to go up, but it'll be a long wait. I'm sorry! Enjoy your week.**


	17. Chapter 17

**- - - Chapter Seventeen**

Lois was panicking. She'd hung up with Clark almost two minutes ago. The image on the computer screen had yet to show any improvement. Luthor still sat in the foreground, holding Jason on the piano bench next to him. He had made the boy play, holding a gun to his temple, and setting the kryptonite cube next to the webcam where Lois could see it just as the green thing in the corner of the screen. Jason wasn't crying, but he was obviously not feeling very good either. He was focused on his playing, but he would falter now and again. Lois and Luthor didn't know it, but it was because he was listening carefully to the whispered instructions of his father from the other side of the ship.

Clark was dealing with the remaining Kings as quickly and quietly as possible. The Linirans were no match for his physical strength, but they had high-tech weapons Clark didn't have access to or need for on Earth. The first bald man went down without a problem; the second gave him a bit more trouble.

The first hadn't realized he was there and had easily been pushed and locked into the same pantry Lois, Jason, and later Richard had been trapped in. The second King had seen Clark already, and was prepared with his glass weapon and was already on his way to warn Luthor. Clark, after being blasted through several of the recently repaired walls, managed to disarm the renegade and lock him with his compadre.

Thirty seconds to go and Clark entered the main room. Luthor was sitting on the piano bench; Jason was calmly sitting next to him plunking out a tune. He could see Lois on the screen, but he was too far away for Lois to see him. There was a small piece of kryptonite on the computer resting on the piano, but, after x-raying the room, Clark discovered that it wasn't the only piece of the deadly green rock. Luthor had a sharpened piece of the stuff in his pocket, it was made of meteor rock so it wouldn't harm Jason, but it _would _harm Clark. There was more of each type stashed around the room; large dull chunks just as often as small sharp ones. Most of it seemed to be kryptonite from Krypton; Luthor was out to hurt Clark, not Jason.

"Well, Miss Lane, it looks like your Superman isn't going to come through this time," Luthor said smugly. Lois, on the other hand, had finally seen Clark behind him. "Too bad, I was looking forward to seeing him again."

"What, no, Luthor!" Lois shouted, not trying to point Clark out, but trying to keep him from doing whatever he was going to do to Jason.

Clark didn't let it happen. He rushed the rest of the way into the room, still murmuring comforting words and instructions to his son. The closer he got to Luthor the worse the kryptonite poisoning got, but Clark ignored it. He was in extreme pain by the time he reached the piano. He took the little cube of kryptonite and chucked across the room; it shattered on the far wall. Jason breathed easier as soon as it was gone, it was the closest piece of New Krypton kryptonite.

Clark blurrily observed that his son seemed to be building up a tolerance for the stuff; weeks ago they had both as well as passed out when there were a few chunks four stories down, now they were in a room laden with the stuff and, though it was painful for Clark, they were both alright.

Luthor jumped around when the kryptonite left his hand, spinning to face Clark and upturning the piano bench. Jason was sent sprawling toward his father, who caught him disjointedly.

Luthor hollered for the Kings, firing at Clark's chest. Clark knew better than to let the bullets hit him so close to kryptonite. Instead, he spun out of the way, holding Jason close and moving toward the door. He got Jason out before turning to face Luthor.

The kryptonite suddenly seemed to have even more of an affect on him now that Jason wasn't in danger, or at least not as much danger. Luthor was near the door, he had the long, sharp shard of kryptonite that had been in his coat pocket out and leveled at Clark's chest. Clark noticed Lois watching through the webcam and wanted to at least be able to close the laptop so she wouldn't have to see whatever was coming. She had put on a brave face for everybody around her when it came to the video footage from New Krypton, but watching it happen live would be too much for her. It would be too much for him to know that she had had to watch it as it happened. Then he realized just how much confidence he had in himself when he was exposed to kryptonite and almost laughed.

"Is something funny?" Luthor asked, seeing the smirk forming on his lips.

"Not at all," Clark said, trying to keep his tone even. He concentrated on walking the rest of the way into the room without his knees giving out on him. _I have to get out so I can get Jason out._ That thought gave his knees enough stability to keep him upright.

They stared at each other for a moment. Now that Clark's knees were working properly, he was worried about his stomach and its unstable contents. Luthor didn't seem to want to attack him, unsure how well the kryptonite was working on him. "Your move, Luthor," Clark said, proud of his vocal cords for not wavering. Luthor didn't look happy to be told to make a move, but he did anyways.

Lunging forward, Luthor aimed for the kryptonite to take him square in the gut. Clark grabbed his wrist first, though, forcing the point away from him. He had no special strength, only adrenaline and muscles any man could acquire. In the same motion he had used to move the kryptonite away, he brought his elbow up and back down on the back of Luthor's head. The blow was enough to knock Luthor sideways into a table.

Clark held onto the kryptonite to keep it out of Luthor's hands even though it was making his palms blister. He threw it away from him a second later, watching it shatter against the same wall the smaller chunk had minutes ago. Luthor was recovering, straightening and coming at Clark with the small table held in his hands. There had been a potted plant on it, but Luthor tipped it to the floor; the pot shattered and sent dirt flying.

Clark turned to face Luthor just in time to get a face full of end table, sending him to his knees. While he was down there, he lunged at Luthor, grabbing him around the knees and throwing him to the floor.

This time he hit hard enough to draw blood. Clark was already stumbling toward the computer where he could see Lois and Perry's faces both watching silently. He was moving the mouse around, shutting down the webcam when something impacted the side of his head. It hurt like hell, harder than any normal hit would've hurt. Then he saw the green fragments snapping past his eyes. Luthor had hit him with a chunk of kryptonite so hard that it had shattered. Clark could see the bruise now, and the look that would be on Lois's face when she noticed it.

It continued like that for almost five minutes. They matched each other hit for hit, Clark as each hit brought him closer to kryptonite in the walls or the chips on the floor. Luthor wasn't doing as well as he'd like to think, though. Clark had gotten his own hits in, and, though he wasn't suffering from the dull ache in the stomach or joints, Luthor was still stumbling quite a bit, his hits not as hard or quickly followed up as they were at the beginning.

There was no conversation, Luthor wasn't even spouting off his usual train of threats. Both were reaching exhaustion when Jason shoved the door off its hinges and burst into the room.

"Daddy!" He said, seeing Clark rolling away from the piano bench that Luthor had slammed down on the space Clark had just occupied. Jason's eyes went wide; he'd seen this before, but it was right in front of him. The computer was still on and broadcasting, he could see his mother and uncle in the small window.

"Jason, go back outside!" Clark said, taking hold of the biggest chunk of the bench that had flown his way and smashing it into Luthor's shoulder.

Jason hesitated for only a moment before picking up the door that had come off its hinges when he'd entered, and tossed it at Luthor. It didn't quite hit him properly, cracking into his left shin and knocking him over. Luthor cried out in pain, falling over and clutching his leg. Jason burst into tears, rushing toward Luthor to try and help, but Clark met him first, scooping him up and holding him close.

Walking stiffly over to the computer, Clark leaned against the piano, seating Jason on the keys. Keeping a hand on his back, Clark tapped on the keyboard, exploring the laptop. A number of files came up detailing the force shield. The information was in Liniran, and, to his surprise, he could read it. The Kings had linked their technology into the laptop on the piano after the technology in their ship had been damaged during their run-in with Superman.

Blue eyes flashed with interest. They wouldn't be able to exit the force shield, it had been programmed to keep things in; Luthor had been expecting him and didn't plan on letting him out. Clark read the information carefully, glad for his speed so that he was able to read enough to get a general idea of what to do while Luthor was still writhing around on the floor. Quickly, Clark copied the hard drive onto a disk, stashing it on his belt before going through the procedures to shut down the force shield.

"Jason," he said, making sure the boy was looking at him before continuing. Perry and Lois were still watching and listening through the webcam. "After I push this button," he pointed to the return key, "it's going to get very hot in here. Lot's of things might start on fire."

"Why? Daddy…?"

"The boat is on top of lava and the force shield around it is the only thing keeping it from catching fire. I have to turn the force shield off so we can get out but that means it's going to get really hot. Understand?" He asked gently. Jason nodded his head. "Okay, say bye to Mom, we'll see her in a bit," he pointed to the window where Lois was watching. She couldn't help but notice that both of them were sweating and Clark had a number of bruises already forming on his face. Jason waved, an innocent smile showing complete trust in his Dad. She was unable to find anything to say so she just waved back.

"Leave a window open for us, Mommy?" Jason asked, smiling at the webcam.

"Of course, honey," she choked out. Clark smiled weakly back at her before hitting the button.

Clark had Jason wrapped in his cape and was headed toward the door when the first effects were felt. Sweltering heat filed the room, the glass observation bottom of the room shattered and flames filled the gap. Jason screamed in his arms and clung tighter. Luthor was barely conscious on the floor but he was begging Superman to get him out.

"Superman, you can't just leave me here! You save lives, it's what you do…" he paused, Clark couldn't tell if it was for effect or because he was out of breath. "Would you really want my life on your conscience?"

"I made it my purpose to save lives. I'm starting to think that letting you die might serve that purpose."

"What?! No!"

But Clark was already gone, tearing through the flames that had exploded around them. Jason was terrified, clinging tightly under the cape and whimpering when he heard the crackling of the flames and the rush of the water crashing down on them after the force field stopped holding it back.

As soon as they were away from the kryptonite Clark began to feel better. It seemed that Luthor had put all of what he had into that room to even the odds during their 'showdown.' Running as close to full tilt as he cold manage, Clark found the stairs and tore up them. The portal window in the door at the top of the stairs was swimming with near boiling water.

"Take a deep breath, Jason, we're going to have to swim a little bit now," Jason didn't respond, just took a deep breath and held on tighter.

Clark wrapped the cape around him more firmly, hoping to keep the boiling water away from his son's skin. Taking a deep breath of his own, he slammed his shoulder into the door and burst into the ocean.

Seconds later the pair of them burst into open air. Jason gasped in a breath of fresh air, freeing himself of the cape to look around. He loved the feel of the crisp sea air whipping past his face. They shot straight up, not stopping until they were above the clouds. The sunlight was pure and bright; reflecting off the clouds, it was much more pure than the weak sunlight coming under the clouds with the sunrise.

Jason was smiling in his arms, hugging his father more than clinging to him. Clark could feel himself relaxing. His son was safe. Luthor and the Kings were dead. The kryptonite that had accumulated in the city was in the process of being destroyed. And Jason was smiling.

They spent ten minutes floating there, absorbing the sunlight. Clark could feel his aches and pains evaporating. The smile still plastered on Jason's face told him that the sun felt just as good when only half Kryptonian.

"Daddy, you're hands have blisters on them," Jason said as they began their descent. Clark looked down at his hands that were wrapped around his son's waist. "And you have a big bruise on your face… Daddy, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," he said, smiling. "My skin blisters like that when I touch kryptonite and I touched some earlier."

"When you were fighting Lex Luthor."

"Right."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, the sun helped. I doubt your Mom will believe me, though," he said, chuckling as they approached the _Daily Planet_.

"I think she likes worrying about you."

"I think she might too."

They swooped through the open window in Perry's office. Jason was still smiling when Clark handed him to a tearful Lois.

"Jason, Jason, are you okay?" She kept saying his name and asking if he was alright, holding him close and shaking as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Mom," Jason said, calmly at first, but then slightly more frantically. "Mom, I'm fine! Mommy!"

"Sorry, honey," she said, letting him down, but still trying to keep him close.

"Hi, Uncle Perry!" Jason said cheerily, going over and giving Perry a hug. The hardened editor seemed to melt into the young boy, holding him tight and shaking almost as much as his mother had been.

Lois looked at Clark, seeing the bruise on the side of his face before anything else, and fresh tears ran down her cheeks. "Lois," he said soothingly, "Lois."

"Are you okay?" She asked. He had taken her in his arms and was supporting her completely. She was shaking both with exhaustion and relief. "Clark," she gasped, noticing the blisters on his hands.

"I'm okay, Lois," he said but he wasn't able to keep his voice from wavering slightly. He was just as tired as Perry or Lois after the exposure to kryptonite.

Lois didn't believe him, making him sit down in Perry's chair. She dug around in one of the cabinets until she found a first aid kit. The four of them were still sitting in the office when the first reporters began trickling in for the day. At first nobody noticed that Superman was sitting in Perry's chair, his cape tucked awkwardly underneath him. Lois was immersed in the task of bandaging his blistered hands and wiping the blood away from the scratch on his temple. Jason was curled up against Perry's side on the couch; both of them were drowsing even though they'd only been sitting for a few minutes.

"Chief!" Georgianna from PR burst into the office without knocking or looking in. She spun around and smacked a bright yellow post-it note down on the desk with a youtube extension written sloppily across it. She blinked a few times when she realized who she was looking at on the other side of the desk. Superman was sitting in the chair looking tired and surprised, Lois crouching next to him trying to get a bandage she had wrapped around his hand but the tape wasn't sticking to his skin properly. Georgianna looked around the room, finding a bleary Perry trying to slip out from under a sleeping Jason. "Oh, um, Superman…"

"What're you doing here, Georgianna?" Lois asked, spinning around. She would've lost her balance if Clark hadn't put the hand she had just been bandaging on her shoulder.

"It's seven-thirty, Lois," Georgianna said defensively. "Everybody's starting to come in… and you should have a look at that," she spun around to face Perry again.

Finally getting up, Perry walked around the desk to his chair which Clark had vacated as soon as he saw the editor heading his way. He punched in the address and was promptly directed to a very angry-looking man adjusting a webcam. Perry watched without much interest until the man finally started talking. It was a direct criticism of Superman for favoring only the _Daily Planet_ with his interviews, claiming favoritism, commenting that he never stayed around for television interviews for any station, or even talked to any reporters for the _Planet_ besides Lois Lane. He came too close to the truth for comfort with his remarks about the connections between Lois and Superman.

Lois and Clark were both behind Perry's chair watching by the time the five and a half minute tirade came to completion.

"Of course I give exclusives to the _Planet_, I trust you here," Superman said, mostly for Georgianna's benefit. Lois and Perry both gave him a look that told him they'd have liked to chuckle at his comment. Georgianna finally seemed to notice how tired all of them were, and the fact that Jason was sleeping on the couch; Lois had walked back around as soon as the video finished, holding him in her lap.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking from face to face. "You all look exhausted."

"Lex Luthor kidnapped Jason yesterday from his school," Clark said, his voice was angry but held nothing of the paternal worry he had felt.

"So what're you doing _here_?"

"I only managed to find him about an hour ago, and it was difficult to get him out," Clark said quietly, glancing at his bandaged hands. "There was plenty of kryptonite, as usual."

"So you spent all night dealing with Lex Luthor? That's why you weren't there when that hurricane hit Florida earlier?"

"Yes," Clark said, his face stony. He had heard the hurricane just before he'd dived under the water to find the force shield. He had done what his father had been worried about; he had put one human life over another. He felt guilty for not doing what he could to save the greater number of people who had needed him, but he didn't feel guilty for going after his son. It was a very complicated emotion and it made the scrape on his head throb. Georgianna was regarding him carefully, he had crossed the room to sit on the couch by Lois and Jason and they almost looked like a family, but the Superman suit offset the picture because the world believed it was impossible for him to mate with a human woman.

"And?" Georgianna finally asked.

"And you can read about it with the rest of the world when I write the article," Lois said.

"You're not writing anything today," Clark said firmly, using his most convincing Superman voice. Of course, that just got him an annoyed look from Lois.

"First you're my personal quit smoking program and now you're regulating my work schedule?"

"You were up all night, Lois, same with you, Mr. White," he said, looking sternly at them both.

"_You_ were the one that got her to quit?" Perry asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his own need for sleep.

"Mr. Kent and I, yes," Clark smiled slightly. "He got rid of her stash and I prevented her lighters from working."

"Yes, well, they worked _fine_ until you blew them out…"

"Which was kind of the point," Clark shrugged. Georgianna was looking at them like they were crazy. She had never heard Superman say so many words in a row, ever. She knew he must be able to form complete sentences because she'd heard Lois talking about talking to Superman, but it was odd to see him doing anything but wave goodbye and fly off. "Anyways," he said, not letting Perry get away. "All three of you should be at home sleeping. I'll bring Lois and Jason home now, Mr. White, and be back in a half an hour to bring you home."

"A half an hour?" Perry asked.

"Enough time for you to delegate whatever it is you need to get done today so you can have at least six hours off to sleep."

"And I suppose you'll be checking in to make sure I don't come back until I've slept?"

"Of course," he said, sounding a little more like Superman to Georgianna's ears.

"Fine," Perry said after loosing the staring contest. He looked like he would've liked to remind Clark who signed his paychecks, but knew better than to do so in front of Georgianna.

"You're lucky I'm so tired," Lois told him as she got to her feet. "I have to write an article about the demise of Lex Luthor now, and I still haven't finished the scathing article I was writing about channel twelve playing that New Krypton footage without your permission…"

"Lois," Superman said, shaking his head, but stopping abruptly when it made him dizzy. "You work too much."

"This coming from the guy that patrols the planet 24/7."

"Touché," he smiled, taking Jason from her and holding him in one arm before wrapping the other around Lois's waist. She comfortably wrapped her arms around him, putting an arm around Jason just to touch him and know he was there. "Half an hour," he reminded Perry before floating up and out the window.

Perry was grumbling, but he got to work, starting by kicking Georgianna out of his office, and then checking his email.

Clark landed lightly on the apartment balcony, holding two sleeping people in his arms. It was slightly awkward to open the door while trying to keep them both upright in his arms. Eventually he got it, slipping past the pane of glass and bringing them both into the bedroom he and Lois usually shared. Neither of them wanted Jason very far from them. He set them on the bed before zipping into Jason's bedroom and getting his pajamas. He changed the boy's clothes, tossing the other garments into a corner without much concern, before turning to Lois. Even if they were going to be married, she really wouldn't appreciate it if he changed her into her pajamas; still, he didn't want to wake her. Instead, he just pulled off her shoes and socks and tucked the pair of them under the blankets. Neither even stirred.

He hovered over them for a few minutes, floating horizontally above them and watching them sleep. Reassuring himself that they were both there and alive and safe. Jason didn't look any worse for wear from the entire ordeal. He looked like he might sleep through the entire day, but there were no scrapes or bruises, but he probably wouldn't be going back to school for the rest of the semester; good thing winter break was just around the corner. Lois, on the other hand, looked completely worn out; she might sleep through to the middle of the following night. She had dark circles under her eyes and the tiny worry lines that were barely visible on normal days stood out in her exhaustion and from being used so much in the past few hours.

Clark wanted nothing better than to change into his pajamas, settle himself between them, and hold on tight, but he had to go back to the _Planet _to get Perry. He flew off a few minutes early, paying a visit to the clear sunlight above the clouds before swooping through the still open window at the _Planet_.

The bullpen was full now, and everybody seemed to know that Superman would be coming to take the editor-in-chief home. Perry looked very grumpy to have everybody looking through his glass wall and waiting to see Superman.

"Don't you people have anything better to do?!" He shouted, slamming the door when nobody even looked away. He realized why when he turned back to his desk to find Superman hovering just outside his window with a tired smile on his face.

"May I come in?" He asked politely. Perry looked at him dumbly for a moment before shaking his head and chuckling.

"You're asking me?"

"No, actually, I was worried that your desk might object," Clark said completely seriously as he flew through the window and touched down.

"The… desk?" Perry said, too tired to get it. Clark chuckled and shook his head, crossing his arms in front of him casually.

"Nevermind, Chief," he managed a real smile before turning serious again. "Let's get going then."

"Just another minute… I've had all these buffoons staring at me- haven't been able to get any work done."

Pursing his lips, Clark took a seat on the couch again and fought drowsiness while he waited for his boss. With the door closed, effectively blocking their conversation from the rest of the office, he knew Perry wouldn't be afraid to threaten his job.

Clark was aware of every eye in the bullpen on him when he hovered above the floor almost forty minutes later, picking the editor up by the armpits and flying out the window. Perry was too tired to even react to the heights.

Flying quickly, Clark made sure Perry was alright in his home before flying as fast as he could back to his family. His unease had been increasing every moment that he was away, afraid that Luthor had somehow survived the fire and the pressure of thousands of gallons of ocean water pressing down on him and managed to get to his apartment where he would be terrorizing the two people who mattered most in the world.

He arrived home to find them both perfectly alright, not having moved an inch since he'd left them. He almost cried with relief. Instead, he wearily shed the suit, tossing it into the same corner that he'd left Jason's clothes, and put on his pajama pants. When he turned back to the bed he found Lois sitting up and watching him.

"Hey," he said softly, crossing the room and sitting on the bed next to her.

"Hey," she said back, leaning into his chest and sighing deeply. "I should change," she said after they had been sitting there for a minute. Clark just nodded, scooting away and into midair, so that she could slide out of bed. She quirked an eyebrow when she noticed he was hovering at bed-level, but didn't say anything. He just shrugged, sliding right back onto the bed when she was out of the way.

They settled onto the bed as soon as Lois had her pajamas on; Lois wrapped her arms around Jason, and Clark wrapped his arms around both of them. Lois and Jason slept soundly through the entire day, not even stirring when Clark left to check on Perry, or when he left to help with damage control in Florida for an hour or so. He didn't need as much sleep as they did, but he liked being close. He was plagued by thoughts of losing either one of them, not wanting to be separated for more than a few minutes. So he lay awake, both of them wrapped in his arms, feeling complete.

**How 'bout that, a day ahead of schedule. woohoo. yeah, okay- I need some ideas for the questions for that interview they promised Perry a couple of chapters ago. Anybody feeling brilliant?**


	18. Chapter 18

**- - - Chapter Eighteen**

Clark was quiet, more quiet than usual. Lois watched him going through his daily routine, realizing she was just as quiet as he was but for different reasons. Jason was dealing with his ordeal miraculously, surprising both of them. He had taken some convincing to get him back to school Monday a week after it happened, but he had gone and had a good time with his friends and relaxed, feeling safe and knowing Lex Luthor was dead. But that was the thing that was keeping his parents quiet.

Clark felt guilty and it was eating him up inside. He could've saved Lex's life, but he hadn't. He'd put his son first, as any parent would do, and let the villain die, a smart move in any hero's book. But he still felt guilty.

Lois had known this immediately, telling him nonstop in the days following that he shouldn't feel guilty. Unfortunately, Clark had put walls up that even Lois was having trouble breaking. He opened up after she'd sat him down on their bed and stared at him, daring him to contradict her and telling him he'd done the right thing.

"I know, Lois, it's just," he shrugged, not making eye contact. "I could've saved him. Even if he was a bad person, he didn't deserve to die. Everybody deserves to live. He deserved to live out the rest of his life in jail, but…"

"Lex Luthor was a bad person. He was always a bad person and he would've always been a bad person. We've tried to put him away time and time again and he always got out of jail. If you'd put him in there this time chances are he would've gotten out again and then he would've come after our family again," she watched him carefully. His face had become oddly clouded when she'd begun, but he was looking at her and listening, at least. "I know you're Superman, and I know Superman has almost insane morals," they shared weak smiles, "but if anybody deserved to die it was Lex Luthor. You did the right thing, Clark."

"He wasn't always a bad person," Clark said softly, the same clouded look settling in his eyes.

"What?"

"Lex wasn't always a bad person," Clark said a little more clearly, swallowing nervously and glancing away before bringing his eyes back to her face.

"What are you talking about?"

"He was in Smallville when I was in high school, his dad sent him to run the LuthorCorp factory there, test his business sense," Clark smiled, remembering the conversations in the past when Lex had been his friend. "We were friends."

"You were _friends_?" She asked, not believing him, but the look on his face drove all doubt from her mind.

"He drove his car off a bridge on the day we met," he said, chuckling, Lois was staring at him. "Sixty miles an hour in a Porsche, hit something on the road, lost control of the car, knocked into me and we both landed in the water."

"Really?"

"It was how I discovered just how invulnerable I am," he smiled, she just stared at him. "It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"You're serious?"

"Yeah, he was my best friend for awhile. I was the best man at his wedding."

"You were in Lex Luthor's wedding?"

"Yeah, he got married during spring break of my senior year. He met his wife, Susan, on a business trip to London. I got to know her pretty well. She was a good person, good for Lex, he needed a good person around. He loved her very much... she died a couple of months after my dad," sadness entered his expression again. "That was what broke him… We had a conversation once about the good and bad in people. He told me that he could feel the dark side of himself creeping up on him… he was right," a shiver went up his spine when he thought about just how right Lex had been about himself. "I wasn't around when he left Smallville and started his life of crime; I'd already left for the Fortress… I used to wonder, right after Superman came around and Lex Luthor stepped up as the supervillain, if I could've stopped him from becoming who he became if I'd just stuck around a little longer…"

Lois looked like she was going to say something but she didn't, just watching him sympathetically. "We'll never know," she finally managed, taking his hands in her own and rubbing her thumbs across them. "How come he didn't recognize you? I mean, if you were best friends, you'd think he would recognize you even in a cape," she asked after a minute. Clark chuckled.

"I think I'd changed too much during my time at the Fortress, and he'd changed too much during his time with the scum of Metropolis," Clark sighed. "He actually contacted me once, me as in Clark," he clarified. "He saw an article with my byline and took me out for a drink to 'catch up,'" he chuckled dryly. "That was the day before he lured me, Superman, into that warehouse where he tested out my abilities," he shook his head. "There was one point where I thought he might've recognized me, a look in his eyes, but he dismissed it right away."

"Superman was best man at Lex Luthor's wedding," Lois said, shaking her head.

"He wasn't always a bad guy, Lois, he was a really great guy for awhile- trying to get out of his father's shadow and do some good in Smallville… That coffee shop that we went to in Smallville, he helped Lana buy it when her aunt died. He did good stuff like that all the time," he shook his head. "He wanted to be a good guy. He knew he had incredible potential to do evil things, he'd had some trouble with it before I met him, but he _wanted_ to move past it…" he shook his head. "I can't believe I let him die."

"Clark," Lois said slowly, she wasn't really sure what she could say that could help him. In one way his best friend had died, in anther his greatest enemy was finally gone. "He might've been a good guy once, but that was a long time ago. He hasn't been anything but trouble for years. He tried to kill you, he tried to kill Jason _twice_, he would've killed _billions_ of people if you hadn't stopped him… there was no going back for him. Whatever good there was has been gone for a long time. Your friend died when his wife died, so far as I can tell," her voice was gaining strength, and Clark almost looked like he was believing her.

"I could've saved him," he said softly, and they both knew he wasn't just talking about getting him off the sunken _Gertrude_. Lois just shook her head, pulling him close and holding him there.

**Hope you liked this- I know it's not what happened in Smallville, but it's just a different take on what happened... a much less complicated take :) I've got most of the next chapter written, I'm just waiting to see if anybody else has any miraculous questions for Superman I should incorporate. I'll post tomorrow morning for sure, so if you have anything good let me know. Sorry if you don't like the whole Smallville aspect here, sorry if you don't think I did it right, sorry it's so short and that I haven't updated for almost three days! And thank you for sticking this out with me, you're all amazing!**


	19. Chapter 19

**- - - Chapter Nineteen**

**I'm apologizing right now (lol, heartnut- guess I only got rid of _most_ of my apologies…) for any answers to the questions that you don't like or that I get wrong. I don't know Superman's history incredibly well, so if I get something wrong feel free to correct me and I will come back and change it so it's right! **

Things had arrived at a new 'normal' by the end of the following week. Clark flew over Jason's school on his lunch hour with Lois, both of them checking on him while he played at recess. The few times that he caught them he would scowl up at them, wanting to be left alone to play, and berate them at home. That didn't stop them from checking, though. Clark had finally come out of his silent streak. He wasn't his usual self, not joking as much as usual, and bumping into a few more people around the office without meaning to, but he was better than he had been.

Perry was extra careful with them for that first week, giving them time off to spend with Jason and get their nerves back, but then he decided they'd snapped out of it enough to get back to their old duties. He sent them to collect the questions for Superman two weeks after the originally scheduled time, and they were glad to have a distraction.

They spent the first half of the day in taxis traveling around Metropolis and a few of the larger suburbs, scheduling it so that they would arrive at Jason's school right at lunchtime and get to spend it with their son.

Jason was excited to see them, thinking they were there to take him home early when they arrived halfway through recess, missing eating with him but still getting to see him.

"Mom! Dad!" He called, running over to them from the playground to where they were bribing the taxi driver into staying put so they could leave the folders from the other schools where they sat.

"Hey munchkin!" Lois said, turning around and catching her son in a hug. "How's your day been?"

"Okay," he said, shrugging and giving his dad a hug. "Did you come to take me home?"

"Sorry, sweety," Lois said, chuckling; he'd been grumpy with them when they checked on him from above but when they came on foot he was happy to see them. "We're just here to get the questions for Superman."

"Oh."

"You got to write one, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't."

"Why not?" It was Clark who asked. Jason just shrugged and looked up at him.

"Because I can ask you anything I want whenever I want," he smiled. "And besides, I couldn't think of anything."

"You kind of got them all out of your system that afternoon after Matt's house," Clark said, smiling when he remembered the questions.

"Yeah. I wrote down one of those to turn in, but… I wanted to ask when we're going flying next, but that's not something I'm supposed to talk about, so…" he shrugged again, looking sad. Clark bent down and picked him up. Jason was big enough that it would've been awkward for anybody else to hold his weight or to manage his legs, but Clark just happened to be Superman and more than capable of giving his six year old a proper hug.

"We'll go tonight after dinner, how about that?"

"Really?"

"Really, really."

"Okay!" He looked a bit happier.

"Now you should go finish your recess while we talk to Mrs. Peterson about rescheduling your conference," Lois said, shooing him away.

"Do we _have_ to have a conference?" He asked, making a face.

"Yup," Lois said, smiling back. She liked to hear what her son was doing when he wasn't around her even if he didn't have any enthusiasm for it. "Have fun."

Jason didn't answer; he was already chasing Matt and Jenna towards the monkey bars. Clark smiled, Jason was already good at dealing with trauma and moving on, which would come in handy if he ever went into the family business. Journalism or being a superhero.

Mrs. Peterson handed over her thick folder full of questions with a small smile. "I think a few of them put in more than one after actually meeting Superman last week," she said with a shrug. She didn't like talking about the circumstances around their meeting of Superman, but she was glad to be able to say she had met him. "They were a bit excited."

"We've been getting a lot of that," Lois said, taking the folder and flipping through a few of the sheets of notebook paper.

"We should also reschedule Jason's parent-teacher conference," Clark said, pretending as though he'd just remembered. Lois closed the folder and nodded, looking up at Mrs. Peterson and switching from reporter mode to mom mode easily.

"Oh, you're the…" she trailed off, not sure what exactly he was, but Clark nodded anyway with a glance at Lois. She was smiling.

"Would it work for you if we just had it tomorrow night?" She asked, handing Clark the folder and digging her planner out of her purse.

"Oh, um," Mrs. Peterson walked around the (new) desk and pulled out her own planner, she had been staring at Clark trying to figure out what his title was or maybe where she recognized him from. "Yes, tomorrow will be perfect… right after school?"

"Sure," Lois said, bending over so that the planner rested on her knee while she wrote down the appointment.

"Thank you," Clark said, smiling at Mrs. Peterson and tucking some papers into the folder before stowing it safely under his arm. "See you tomorrow night."

"Yes, have a nice day!"

"You too," Lois said, following Clark out after the planner was safely hidden in her purse again.

They maneuvered slowly through flocks of children coming in from recess. Clark chuckled when he heard Lois complaining that it was like rush hour only shorter and less metallic. They saw Jason and waved goodbye when the flow of traffic wouldn't allow them to stop for long enough to exchange hugs. Jason didn't seem to mind not going home early, especially since he wouldn't really be going home so much as going to the _Planet_, a place he felt he'd spent too much time anyways. Clark's promise to take him flying later helped settle his dislike of school, too.

- - -

Lois and Clark had commandeered a conference room to spread out all the questions that had been written. Before they could even think of conducting the official interview, which they had promised to tape record so that the curious ears at the office could have something to talk about, they had to decipher the young handwriting.

Teachers seemed to have emphasized good penmanship on this assignment because it was mostly legible with a few extreme cases. All the questions had the first names of the child asking and the school that they were from so that they could be cited in the paper.

Two hours and way too many sloppily written questions later, they were finally finished sorting. They had put similar questions in piles together so that they wouldn't be asking the same questions in different words time and time again. It had taken some guessing, and a few dashes out to as other employees what they thought a particularly sloppy word or two were, but they had finally gotten it done.

Time for phase two.

Clark excused himself for the day, going to pick up Jason, and Lois gathered the questions they had chosen, all two hundred and thirty-two of them, in a folder and went up on the roof to flag down Superman.

Clark and Jason were waiting on the roof when she got there, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

"That was quick," she said, glancing at her watch as she set the folder down on the ledge and searched her purse and pockets for her tape recorder.

"Front pocket on the purse," Clark said, but when she looked up his eyes were still closed and his face turned towards the sunlight. Nevertheless, he was right.

"We made a sonic boom, Mom!" Jason said excitedly. He was looking at his mother with sparkling eyes instead of enjoying the sunlight now. When she glanced back at Clark she realized that he was looking at her with the exact same sparkle in his eyes.

"Is it really safe for Jason to be going that fast?" She asked him, knowing it must be; Clark would never do anything to hurt Jason.

"Does it look like it hurt him?" Clark asking, knowing that she wasn't really mad at him.

"He looks fine," she shrugged. "I'm allowed to worry, aren't I?"

"Just wait till he learns to fly on his own," Clark's eyes were really dancing now, and Lois wasn't sure if she was looking forward to it as much as him. When Jason learned how to fly both of them would be able to leave her earthbound and alone while they saved the world… no, Jason wouldn't be saving the world at least until he was out of college if she had a say in it. She didn't reply to Clark's comment, just narrowed her eyes.

"So we have three hundred-plus questions to get through here, Superman," Lois said. "What do you say we get started… I think the gossip section is planning on sneaking onto the roof to get a peak, too."

"Well, we'll just have to disappear before they make it all the way up here," Clark said.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

"You were worried I'd want to pose for a picture?"

"'Course not."

"'Course not," he repeated, pulling the folder to him.

"What am I supposed to do while you do this?" Jason asked before Lois could click on the tape recorder.

"You can do you homework over there, honey," she said, pointing to a boxy-looking protrusion that could serve as a chair. "Just be sure to get our attention quietly before you talk so that we can turn off the tape… everybody is supposed to think you're off with your dad."

"I _am_ off with my dad," Jason reminded her.

"True," Lois said, shrugging. "But nobody else can know that."

"I know."

"Let us know if you need help," Clark said, watching the boy walk over to the square and take a seat before emptying the contents of his backpack onto the cement beside him.

"I will," he said, his nose already in a library book.

"He came prepared," Clark said chuckling when he turned back to Lois.

"I think he's spent way too much time hanging out in the bullpen after school," Lois responded, shaking her head.

"That happens," Clark said, clearing his throat.

"Okay, so back to the interview," Lois cleared her throat too. They shuffled through the questions trying to find a good place to start.

"How about this one?" Clark asked, holding up a wrinkled sheet of notebook paper that Lois had had to rewrite the question in her own handwriting below the question the child had written.

"Okay," Lois said, grabbing the recorder and clearing her throat again before flipping it on. "So, Superman, you agreed to do this interview, answering the questions of the first graders from Metropolis and the surrounding area… why?" She asked, throwing a question of her own in to start partially because she really wondered what he had been thinking when he'd agreed to it, and partially because it was just a good thing to have at the beginning of the tape.

"Well, as evidenced by the video recently posted online, people are tired of hearing the answers to only the questions you feel need to be asked. Children can think of questions adults never would ask but would always be curious about, and it gets people like, what are they calling him now, the Lane Hater?" He asked. Many nicknames had surfaced for the still anonymous man who had posted his video the morning they had brought Jason home; most of them were not as nice as the Lane Hater.

"That among others," Lois said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, it gets people like him off _your_ back, Miss Lane. You can write that I've come to trust you and the _Daily Planet_ to publish what I say and what I do honestly and I don't feel that I _need_ to talk to any other papers so long as that honesty continues."

"Thank you," she said.

"Of course," he replied. She shook her head at him, rustling the paper and holding up the first question.

"Okay, the first question is from Missy of Metropolis Elementary: What is your favorite color?" She glared at him like the question was the most important that could ever be asked and Clark smiled, fighting the urge to laugh at her.

"Blue," he answered, glancing down at the suit he wore. When he looked back up at Lois, however, his eyes were dancing with humor, remembering the colors from their first interview; she seemed to remember as well because she was blushing. "Most of the planet is blue; it's a very nice color."

Lois nodded, opening the folder and taking the next question off the top. "How fast can you fly?"

"I've never truly tested myself," he answered honestly. "I can go faster than the speed of sound but not as fast as the speed of light. Couldn't tell you the exact speed."

"Is Superman your real name?"

"No, my real name is Kal-El. That's what my parents named me when I was born," he smiled at Lois. She had tensed up when he'd started, thinking he was going to say that his real name was Clark. "Lois, you called me Superman in the first article you wrote about me…"

"I remember."

"And it seems to have stuck… At least I already had the shirt."

"Okay," she chuckled and reached for the next question, "Why is your suit the way it is; blue, yellow, and red with the big "S" on it; why not something different?"

"The "S" isn't actually an "S," or at least it wasn't when it was put there," he paused. "It's a Kryptonian symbol, it stands for the House of El and just happens to look like an "S," and that's just fine with me. As for the colors of the suit, that's just what they ended up being. No particular reason."

"Another few questions about the suit: do you wear it all the time? Do you have more than one? Why do you even have to wear a suit? Where did you get it?"

"Yes, I wear it just about all the time, not when I'm asleep. That wouldn't be comfortable. I have a few suits just in case something happens to one of them," his face darkened slightly. The only time he'd ever had to change his suit for anything other than cleaning had been when Luthor stabbed him and he'd had to leave the suit with his mother for mending. "And I do have to wear the suit. I have something like an aura around me so far as my indestructibility goes. As long as something is within half a centimeter of me it's indestructible. I would gladly trade the suit for jeans and a t-shirt if it didn't mean they'd burn up whenever I tried to help somebody in a fire or tear away from me when I break the sound barrier," he chuckled.

"I take it you learned this by experience?" Lois asked, unable to help herself; he had never told her any stories, just what had been on the tapes.

"Yes," he smiled. She motioned for him to elaborate with her hand, and he rolled his eyes. "My shirt caught on fire once, but the parts that were closest to my body weren't even damaged by the smoke."

"And where did you get the suit?" Lois prompted when he didn't start answering it right away.

"It was fabricated at the Fortress of Solitude, though I think it would be best if you didn't mention the Fortress. People might go looking for it and it's not exactly secure," his face darkened and Lois nodded in understanding.

"Okay," she said, she cleared her throat and continued, picking up the next question and stifling a laugh.

"Do you ever worry about wearing a cape?"

"What?"

"Have you ever seen the Incredibles?"

"Yes…" he said slowly, trying to find the relevance, and then it hit. He let out a laugh, one of the first real laughs since Jason had been kidnapped. "Yes, I have, and no, I don't worry about wearing a cape. I'm indestructible, so if it got caught in a jet engine I'd break the engine not the other way around. I'd have to deal with a lot of angry people if that ever happened, but…" he chuckled again. "No, I'm comfortable with my cape. It's saved my life before," he added more softly, looking Lois in the eye.

"Yes, it has," Lois said. "Moving away from your attire, what was Krypton like?"

"When?" He asked.

"I'm assuming Ashley of Miss Haily's Private School means before it was destroyed."

"It was very white," he said, remembering what he'd learned from the crystals, sad not to have memories of his own. "All of the structures were crystalline and pale. The planet was unstable though, so the cities were hidden underneath protective domes. I don't know much about it, I was very young when my father sent me to Earth. And again, I think it would be best if you didn't publish that part," Lois nodded. "When I went back it was a graveyard riddled with kryptonite. I almost didn't make it back," he admitted.

"Why did the Kings that came in the rock that landed in the park call you Lord El?"

"Because that's my name, or my father's name, at least," he said. Lois arched an interested eyebrow. "Krypton was governed by a council of elders of sorts. My father was among them and they were called lords. People were elected to the council, though, so the title would be removed if they were demoted. The Kings come from a monarchal planet, so they would assume that the title would've been passed down to me upon my father's death."

"Have you ever run into anything when you were flying? Like a bird or a plane?"

"No," Clark said slowly, Lois raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you didn't lie, Superman."

"Well, I didn't run into it, exactly… it ran into me."

"What?"

"A seagull."

"A seagull?"

"Yeah. I was just kind of flying about a week after your first article, and this seagull came out of nowhere and smashed right into my chest."

"Did it die?"

"No, it was only slightly concussed and very confused," they were both laughing now, and Jason was watching from afar, shaking his head. "I kind of held onto it until it figured out what happened and decided to fly away from the strange thing hovering in the air," he paused. "It took the birds awhile to get used to seeing a man flying through the air with them. I still scare them, but I avoid them, so…"

They both laughed for another minute before Lois managed to bring herself back to the task at hand. "Another flying question, what's flying like?"

"Well, you know that, Lois."

"Not the way you do."

"True," he said, tilting his head slightly to the side to look at her a moment before continuing. "It's like falling, only with complete control. Have you ever dreamt you were flying?" He asked, and Lois nodded. "Well, it's like that only real, I guess."

"So you dream, then?" Lois asked.

"Yes."

"Nightmares, too?" She already knew the answer to that question; she could always tell when he was having a nightmare and she'd had to wake him up more than once. The look on his face after he woke up from them was enough to break her heart some nights.

"Yes," his voice was a little darker. He had seen things nobody should have to see, and he had an infallible memory. He could never forget those terrors, even if the only way they managed to stay remembered was by resurfacing in his dreams. Lois seemed to realize this, and cleared her throat.

"Sorry."

"Not a problem."

"Do you like flying in the rain?" She asked, shuffling the papers in the folder; they still had a lot to go.

"No."

"Simple as that?"

"Well," he shrugged. "It's wet and uncomfortable. Hail is worse, I suppose. I usually fly above the clouds to avoid it."

"This one's Jason's: can you read books without opening them?"

"Yes, but it's not as fun," Clark responded as he had last time, smiling over at his son who was still deeply immersed in his library book.

"Do you have a favorite book?"

"To Kill a Mockingbird."

"That's a good book."

"I think so."

"How about your other favorites: food, movie, television show, song, beverage, place…"

"I don't get much time to sit down and watch movies or television, so I really don't have any favorites there. I'll eat just about anything," he chuckled. "I've swallowed bombs before and I must say I prefer anything to _that _aftertaste."

"What about songs?"

"I have a few," he shrugged. "I probably shouldn't say because that would be publicly endorsing the bands or something and there would inevitably be some sort of scandal or something pointless… I like the Five for Fighting song 'Superman,' I think they got it about right," he shrugged.

"And your favorite place?"

"Home."

"And where is that?" Lois asked, smiling because she knew the answer.

"Here."

"Metropolis?"

"Earth."

"Oh… Next question then, have you ever been to outer space?"

"I came from outer space," Clark said, raising an eyebrow. Lois held up the sheet of paper to prove that it wasn't her question. "And that's where I went when I was gone, back to Krypton… my five years of hell," he shook his head to clear the memories of kryptonite poisoning and the emotional devastation.

"I don't think that vocabulary is appropriate for an interview made of questions posed by children."

"Well it was," Clark said, sounding like a stubborn child.

"Fine," Lois said, glancing at their son, who wasn't paying them any attention.

"So, do you still have a space ship?"

"Yes."

"And it's just lying around somewhere?"

"No, I buried it when I came back… it didn't land very well, it would take a lot of work to get it back in the air let alone back into space."

"So you're stuck around Earth 'til you fix it?"

"Well, I'm stuck in this solar system 'til I fix it, but I'm not working on fixing it. I have no desire to leave this little blue planet ever again."

"You calling our planet small?" She asked, narrowing her eyebrows at him and smiling.

"Well, compared to a few I've seen…"

"How big was Krypton?"

"A little bigger than Jupiter."

"Hm," Lois said, filing the information away. "So good, not leaving us again, but… solar system?"

"I can hold my breath for a number of hours, and as long as I stay within easy view of the Sun I'll be okay out in space. It's not very exciting out there, though… just cold, and quiet. Which is nice sometimes."

"Which brings us to the next question; do you ever get headaches from hearing everything all at once all the time?"

"No," Clark answered simply.

"Oh c'mon," she said, turning off the tape recorder. "Can you be any more vague?"

"Well," Clark shrugged. "This is a Superman interview, Lois. People aren't used to hear me say more than one or two words, wave, and fly away."

"And isn't the point of this sort of interview to get people to know a little more about you? That you're not a complete alien who barely speaks?"

"Well, I am a complete alien…"

"You are not," Lois interrupted, looking offended. Clark's face softened into a smile.

"Well, you're probably going to just hear all these stories again when Jason hits puberty and starts getting his powers."

"Well then they better be good," Lois smiled and Clark rolled his eyes.

"You're sure I'm gonna get super powers?!" Jason asked, suddenly paying complete attention to his parents' conversation.

"Pretty sure, kiddo," Clark said, smiling. Jason looked ecstatic. "Not sure if you'll get all of them that I have, or just a couple, but you'll get them. We've already seen your super-strength, remember?"

"Yeah," Jason said, quietly thinking for a moment. "I hope I can fly. If I can't do anything else I want to be able to fly."

"I hope you can too," Clark said, and he meant it.

"We should get back to these questions," Lois pointed at the folder and Clark nodded. Jason already had his nose back in his book. Lois flipped the recorder back on and flipped over the next sheet of notebook paper, "Have you ever not wanted to be Superman?"

Everybody on the roof froze for a moment, Jason pulling his face out of the book to look at his father, and Lois holding the recorder stiffly in front of her. Clark sat still as a statue, pondering. "Yes," he answered softly.

"What?"

"Yes, there was a time when I didn't want to be Superman," he said more confidently. Lois waited for more. "There was a time when I was willing to, and did, give up everything to have a normal life. And then General Zod tried to take over the world," he was speaking slowly, deliberately, trying to get the tale across without giving too many secrets away. "That's why I was so late in 'coming to the rescue,' as it were… I realized that I can't have everything that I want. I have gifts and I've chosen to use them to help people, and I made a promise to do that. I've never regretted that brief, less than a week, of normality, but…

"There are choices that I have to make as Superman. I can hear everything, but I can't _do_ everything. Sometimes saving one person means that somebody else doesn't make it and it's- difficult. There was a lot of guilt at the beginning when I was the one making those choices. I can hear the people grieving after I couldn't save someone just as well as I can hear calls for help," he said the last sentence softly before clearing his throat and moving on. "I had almost five years in a stasis pod recently to think about how it all works… when I came back the world had moved on, you wrote it in your own article, Lois," she cleared her throat nervously. "You really don't _need_ me, but it's nice to be around," he shrugged. "I was back on Earth for almost a month before I came out in public. I wasn't sure if I _was _going to come back, maybe just live my life like a normal person, fly and pick up milk when nobody's looking," he chuckled. "But then there was that plane. There was nothing anybody, any human, could do. I'm the only one that I know of that can fly," he smiled, looking over at his son and adding _"for now"_ in his mind. "It's in the odd occurrence when something goes wrong that you can't fix that its good to be here. I _like_ to help, I like that I _can_ help- sometimes I'd like a break, not a five year break, mind you, but I do get tired some days… to cite the Incredibles again, I'd like the world to just stay 'cleaned up' for once, but that's never going to happen. I won't be giving up anytime soon, though," he was smiling.

"That was quite the monologue, there, Superman."

"That's the answer," Clark said, shrugging. Lois paused before asking another question. The more she heard about the time she had forgotten the more curios she was to hear the whole story, and the more flashes she would get of it. She saw Clark walking out of a white crystal chamber wearing normal clothes and looking just like normal Clark, and wondered why the image made her chest tighten and her tear ducts clench. She turned off the recorder for a moment.

"You'll be telling me the whole story about Zod later," she assured him. He nodded solemnly and she turned the tape back on. "Okay, um, Heather, also of Metropolis Elementary, wants to know how Krypton was destroyed."

"The sun went supernova," he said calmly. "It was an old star, a red giant, dying. The scientists of Krypton were aware of what was happening."

"And they didn't do anything?"

"There was enough disagreement within the upper ranks, the council, that nothing was done. The council ruled that there was no danger, and they wouldn't allow anybody to speak of it and risk causing global panic. My father was a scientist and tried to convince them otherwise, he didn't tell the world, but he continued to try and persuade the council to change their minds; it didn't work."

"And so he sent you off the planet to save your life."

"Yes."

"Why didn't he come too?" Lois had long wanted to ask that question.

"He and my mother were ordered not to by the council."

"So they stayed and died?" Lois asked, astonished. "Don't Kryptonians have some sort of fight or flight mechanism? Save yourself when you can?"

"They had sworn an oath to the council," Clark shrugged. He didn't understand this part much himself, having been raised on Earth. "It's kind of a Kryptonian thing, but oaths are _not_ broken."

"So you'll never break an oath?"

"I try not to," he said.

"Is that why you lifted New Krypton into space even though it could've, and almost did, kill you?"

"Yes," Clark answered simply.

"Well, thank you," Lois said, her throat was tense. Jason was looking at them again so Lois just cleared her throat and pulled out the next sheet of paper. "Where do your powers come from?"

"The sun," Clark answered. Again, Lois motioned for more information and Clark sighed. "I was born under a red sun, and then I was sent here to a planet with a yellow sun. My cells absorb the rays differently than a human's cells do; the red sun was so much weaker than the yellow sun that on Krypton my cells would've had to work a lot harder to get the things it needs from sunlight, like Vitamin D for humans, but the yellow sun is much stronger. My cells still work hard enough to absorb from a red sun, though, so the yellow sun overcharges my cells, in a way, giving me 'super powers,'" he said using air quotes.

"Note that Superman is using air quotes," Lois said, chuckling lightly. Clark rolled his eyes at her.

"Indeed I am," he answered before continuing. "It took awhile for my cells to adjust to the different light, I was very sick for awhile when I first arrived. Obviously, I'm doing a bit better now."

"Yes you are," Lois said, thankful for it. _That could be why Jason was so fragile when he was younger_, Lois thought, not noticing that Clark was waiting for another question. _His Kryptonian cells were prepared for a red sun and they got a yellow sun. Makes sense…_

"Next question?" Clark asked when Lois seemed to be lost in thought, staring at their son.

"Right," Lois said, moving on to the next one on the stack. They hadn't even taken a dent out of the pile.

- - -

It took the rest of the week to get the interview officially finished, and the weekend to get the article written. The reporters at the _Planet_ were overeager to hear the tapes Perry had promised them, which Lois had grudgingly handed over after the article was complete. They played the tapes for what seemed to be the entire staff of the _Planet_, including the online reporters that never seemed to show their faces at the office. Clark had swept the place for listening devices, checking to make sure people weren't even recording his voice on their cell phones before leaving to get Jason so that he wouldn't accidentally give himself away by speaking at the same time his alter ego on the tapes was. The rest of the office was too distracted to notice he was gone, not that they cared that he was. Lois had wanted to come with him, but Perry insisted she stay.

The office seemed to be at awe with the ease with which Lois and Superman talked. Clark was right when he had said that nobody was used to hearing him speak with complete sentences. Georgianna from PR was even more devoted to Lois after hearing the recordings pressing her for details about the short, static-filled gaps in the tapes. Lois had explained that those were the times that he had had to run off to save the world.

"How come you never got him saying that he had to leave or something?" Georgianna asked. Again, it seemed like the entire office was listening for her response.

"He gets a look in his eye," Lois said honestly, "when he hears somebody that needs him. I always just shut off the recorder and went for coffee or something. I'd watch the TV and go back on the roof when he flew off from wherever he'd been needed and he'd usually be there waiting."

"And you'd just pick up where you left off?" Georgianna asked, prying a little too much for Lois's taste.

"Well, he has eidetic memory, and I had it all written down…" she shrugged. "He's Superman, he can do that, and I just tagged along."

Perry was ecstatic; so ecstatic, in fact, that he gave Lois and Clark the afternoon off the day the article was published. The following day, he assigned them to investigate the leaking of the footage of the events on New Krypton, a topic both of them were interested in learning more about. Jason's kidnapping had been swept under the rug, only mentioned briefly in the _Planet_, and the other major newspaper companies had followed suit out of respect for Lois, which had surprised her, to say the least.

**Ha, got that done: thanks to all who gave me questions, it helped!**


	20. Chapter 20

**- - - Chapter Twenty**

Lois had started planning the wedding. She was browsing magazines for a dress, and already had a start on the flowers. Of course, she still had no idea where she wanted it, how many people they'd be inviting, or anything concerning money. Clark gave his input only when directly questioned, telling Lois that he wanted what she wanted so long as it wasn't _too _bizarre.

"Number one, or number two?" Lois asked, showing him two options for wedding dresses.

"Lois, it's your dress, pick the one you want," he said gently. She'd been doing this for almost an hour now. At first he'd given her his opinion gladly, but it was getting ridiculous. "Maybe we should go to a store and look at some," he suggested when he saw her eyes narrow. "You could try some on; you're going to be wearing it all evening, you might as well be sure it's comfortable."

"It's a wedding dress, Clark; it's not supposed to be comfortable. It's supposed to be pretty."

"Well, you're pretty enough to make up for any prettiness the comfort takes out of the dress," he said. She was still glaring at him, but the malice had left her eyes. _Crisis averted,_ Clark thought to himself, mentally wiping his brow.

"We haven't got time to go shopping now, though," Lois said wistfully. "Jason needs to be picked up in twenty minutes, and we promised we'd take him to a movie."

"We did?"

"Well, I did," Lois smiled at him. "It's the first day of winter break and he asked nicely."

"Sounds good," Clark said, praying that nobody would be in mortal danger and he'd be allowed to sit through one movie with his family.

- - -

Three hours later the three of them were back in their living room. They'd seen 'Bridge to Terebithia' and enjoyed it. Jason was already lost in his own little world, making up imaginary characters for himself and trying to discover secret worlds hiding under the couch or behind the TV.

"Careful, Jason," Lois reminded him when he almost knocked over the TV. He'd been showing signs of super-strength lately, lifting up things that would normally have been a little heavy quite easily. He didn't seemed alarmed at all, just surprised when he'd lifted up the coffee table that morning before school. Suddenly Jason froze, staring at the back wall. Lois glanced back and saw nothing out of the ordinary; "What's wrong honey?"

"Where did the fridge go?" He asked, walking towards the kitchen.

"What?" Lois asked, glancing at Clark. His eyebrows were knit together, looking from Jason to the wall and back, obviously not seeing whatever Jason was either. His face dawned with comprehension just as Jason walked straight into the fridge door.

"Ow," Jason said, rubbing his nose even though it hadn't hurt. They all looked at the fridge; Jason's eyes suddenly focused on it, confused. There was a faint face-print in the metal.

"What happened, Jason?" Lois asked, walking over to him and rubbing his back while they watched Clark fix the fridge door.

"It disappeared," Jason said, looking to his dad for answers. Clark was smiling.

"I think you're getting x-ray vision," he said gently. Jason looked terrified.

"I don't want x-ray vision!" He was looking back at the fridge again, worried it would disappear. Unfortunately, when he focused on it, it did disappear, revealing their balcony beyond and the cityscape. "Bring it back!" He looked at his dad, pressing back against Lois when he saw a skeleton and muscles instead of the face he was used to. Jason squeezed his eyes shut until he felt his dad's soothing hands on his shoulders.

"Open your eyes, Jason," Clark said calmly.

"No!" Jason said, but he did what he was told slowly. He sighed with relief when Clark's face was in place. He reached out a cautious hand and touched his dad's cheek.

"What did you see?" Clark asked gently.

"The fridge was gone, and I could see out like we can see on the balcony," he turned and looked again; the fridge melted away and he could see the city again. He squeezed his eyes closed before looking at his dad again. "And I saw your bones." he repressed a shudder. Lois, still rubbing his back, moved a little closer.

"Bones aren't something to be afraid of," Clark said. "Everybody has them."

"But I don't like _seeing_ them," Jason responded.

"It's a little weird at first, I know," Clark shrugged. "Is it happening now?"

"No," Jason answered, glancing back at the fridge and smiling when it didn't disappear even when he squinted.

"Next time it happens let me know and I'll try and teach you how to control it so you don't have to look at bones when you don't want to. Okay?"

"Okay," Jason smiled. The three of them sat there for another moment before Jason squeezed out of his mother's grip and went into his room to find some toys.

"I thought you said we'd be waiting till he hit puberty," Lois accused, standing up to look him in the eye.

"It's going to be different with him," Clark shrugged. "He's part human, too."

"I never even thought about him developing powers," Lois said. "Even after he threw that piano on the yacht," she shuddered, remembering the experience. She'd told Clark the whole story about what had happened on the _Gertrude_ the night he'd told her the whole story of what had happened at the Fortress. Clark hugged her to him.

"This could be fun," he said. She looked up at him skeptically but he just smiled.

- - -

Jason was walking into walls.

The poor boy was walking around the apartment with his hands in front of him. He knew where the walls were and where the furniture was, but then he'd find a door. There was no way to be sure if the door was opened or closed when you could see right through it. Clark had been working with him since the beginning of his winter break three days ago, but the x-ray vision could definitely be quantified as 'worse.'

At first, Jason would get random flashes where he would see through this or that. He'd asked his mom where the kitchen table had gone three times before they both realized he was seeing through it. As soon as he realized it, the table appeared again, but the chairs disappeared. It was extremely frustrating. He'd gone to Clark as soon as the chairs had swum back into view, trying not to look at anything too closely so that it would just stay solid while he walked past it. He'd made it into the same room as his dad when he'd looked down at his feet and seen through the fall, promptly falling over in fright when he thought he was going to fall.

"What's the matter, Jason?" Clark had asked, speeding over and catching his son before he hit the floor.

"The floors gone," Jason said, staring down. The landlord's room was below them; she was a grumpy single woman reaching her fifties who's flirted with Clark constantly until she'd realized the little boy who had moved in with him was his son, not just the son of the co-worker he'd told her was staying with him till she got on her feet. The woman kept cats; it was one of the few apartment complexes that allowed pets. She had a half dozen hugely fat cats and all of them were lounging around, watching the landlady make herself a sandwich.

"Blink a few times and try to see the floor instead of Miss Humpfridlink," Clark instructed, watching his son do as he said. Jason's face burst into a smile after he'd been blinking for about five seconds.

"The floor's back!" He looked at his dad and frowned as soon as his eyes focused on him. "I can see the bones in your face," he sounded horrified.

"Try not to focus on that, it gets kind of icky to look at people's insides," Clark shuddered remembering a time when he'd watched his father's brain for a full half an hour partly because he wanted to get over the fact that he _could_ see his dad's brain, and partly because he hadn't figured out how to turn it off yet. Jason was blinking again, and then his face cleared. "Here," Clark said, leading Jason by the hand into his bedroom.

Jason stood still in the doorway while Clark filled his backpack with stuff. "What're you doing?" He asked when his dad turned around, holding the bulging bag in front of him.

"Tell me what's inside," Clark said, watching his son's face. Jason looked surprised for a minute, then helpless, looking at the bag and willing it to disappear.

"I can't… It all goes away when I try to look inside," he sounded very disappointed in himself.

"Just think about what parts of it you want to disappear and what you want to see instead," Clark suggested gently. Jason nodded, focusing on the bag again.

"I see my blue swimsuit!" He shouted out a moment later, looking up at his dad in surprise. He was even more surprised when his dad's face didn't melt away into bone.

"And what's wrapped up in your swimsuit?" Jason squinted at them again and Clark was glad that he wasn't developing heat vision at the same time or they'd be having some problems.

"There're a few Lego guys in the pocket."

"Which pocket?"

"The closest one," Jason said immediately. "The other one is turned inside out."

"Very good," Clark said, surprised.

"And the swimsuit is wrapped around my Buzz Lightyear flashlight that doesn't work anymore," Jason said, his voice getting more and more excited. He went on to tell his dad half the things in the bag without mistake. He had some issues when he tried to see past one thing without seeing through the thing behind it, or making the bag disappear altogether.

"That was very, very good, Jason," Clark complimented, hugging his son. Lois had gone to get groceries so they could have lunch, leaving the pair of them to figure it out. "I'm so proud of you," Jason was almost glowing. It was one thing to hear his dad say those words, another to know that his dad was Superman and he was saying those words, and an entirely different thing to know that he was being complimented on doing something only the son of Superman could do and doing it well for the first time.

It took Jason the rest of the week to truly figure out his new talent, but he picked up on it fast, much like he'd learned how to control his super-hearing very quickly. It surprised Clark, first that the powers were developing so early, and second that Jason was mastering them so quickly. It was clear they'd have a lot to look forward to a lot sooner than they had predicted.

Clark was sure to lecture his son about the importance of privacy. He made sure Jason understood that he should not use his x-ray vision to spy on people, to watch Miss Humpfridlink and her cats below them when he was bored, or try and see through peoples' clothes just because he could was a big _don't_. It would be a few years, luckily, before they really had to worry about Jason wanting to see through anybody's clothes, and Clark was able to get his point across about respecting peoples' privacy.

"We have amazing talents, Jason," he explained. "We need to know how to use our talents so we can help people when they need us to, but we need to know when not to use our talents, too."

"Can I use my x-ray vision to find toys when I lose them in my room?"

"Yes," Clark said, smiling, "but you shouldn't look through walls when we're at home because you don't need to. We don't need to see the cats downstairs eat their dinner, or sofa in the living room when we're bored, just like we don't need to listen to the twins upstairs fighting some afternoons, or the lady practicing singing across the street."

"But we can, and the lady across the street sings really good."

"Yes, but she only sings because she thinks nobody can hear her."

"But she sings really good!"

"But she doesn't want us to listen."

"Then why does she sing?"

"Maybe she enjoys it," Clark shrugged. "But we shouldn't listen because she only sings when she's alone in her apartment."

"Why do you know that if you say you don't listen to her?" Jason asked accusingly.

"Because I have to keep my ears open so I can hear when people need my help."

"Shouldn't I listen for people who need help too?"

"No, definitely not!" Lois's voice carried quietly to them from the kitchen. She'd mumbled it under her breath, having decided to let Clark deal with this, but they both heard her anyways. Jason frowned at the door, looking through it to watch his mother stirring whatever she was making for lunch.

"Right now helping people is my job, Jason," Clark said carefully. "When you're older, after you finish all your school, you'll be ready to help. I know you're really strong, and you don't get hurt, and you can hear things and see things and want to help, but you're still a little boy," Jason frowned at that. "Yes, you are," Clark chuckled. "You're a very special little boy, but you've got a lot of stuff to do that you can only do when you're a little boy… Just let me worry about listening and watching for people that need help, and you enjoy your winter break."

"Okay, Daddy," Jason said after contemplating the proposal for a minute. Clark could hear Lois sigh with relief out in the kitchen. There was more than one reason they were asking Jason to keep his eyes and ears to himself and it mainly had to do with things that happen when the lights go out in adults' bedrooms, not only in their own but in the young couples' apartment a few doors down, and in all the others within Jason's earshot, and now, his view.


	21. Chapter 21

**- - - Chapter Twenty-One**

"Clark?" Lois asked sleepily, not opening her eyes. They were lying in bed on a beautiful Saturday morning in May, both of them awake but neither wanting to admit to it.

"Hm?"

"One week from today is our wedding day."

"Yes it is," he opened his eyes, smiling down at the woman in his arms. She'd opened her own eyes and was smiling back, kissing his bare chest once before settling down into him again.

- - -

"So let's go over everything again," Lois said. Clark smiled patiently; they'd been going over the wedding details all afternoon while Jason played in his bedroom.

"Okay."

"Okay," Lois started at it again. She skipped through the rehearsal, not very worried about it, moving on to the wedding day. They were getting married at 4pm in a small church in Metropolis. Lucy would be Lois's maid of honor; Jimmy would be the best man. The guest list wasn't extremely extensive, close friends and family, they'd invited the staff of the _Daily Planet_ to the reception only, not being incredibly close with more than a few of their coworkers. The reception would be in the Metropolis County Club's guest lounge, a big ball-room type space usually rented out for large celebrations. The caterer had been called and called again, confirming that they would have enough food for their guests, and the priest had been called multiple times as well. Lois didn't want anything to fall through the cracks.

Finally, Lois got to the part Clark was most looking forward to. The honeymoon. They'd be spending a week in Paris while Martha took care of her grandson on the farm. Jason was actually excited to spend time with his grandmother. She cooked a lot better than his mom and didn't feel guilty about spoiling him a little bit. Then there was Shelby, the aging dog he'd have for company, the funny videos of his dad when he was a kid to watch, the privacy the huge amounts of open land that would soon be filled with cornstalks offered, and the encouragement he was sure to get from his grandmother concerning his developing super-powers. Martha Kent was, after all, the only woman on Earth to have raised a superhero and would be very good for advice. Clark was looking forward to the honeymoon simply because it was his honeymoon. He and Lois would be alone together in a beautiful city and not have to worry about Jason catching them with his super-hearing or x-ray vision. He'd made Superman's presence heavily felt around the world in the past few months, deterring organized crime and hoping to be able to get away with a week without doing anything. They both knew he'd have to go once in awhile, but Clark had promised himself he would only leave if there was no chance it could be handled without him.

"And then we spend a week in Paris _alone_," Lois said, smiling and leaning in for a kiss.

"Are we going to do _anything _tourist-y?" Clark asked.

"Probably not," Lois said, smiling seductively and Clark felt his ears go red. Luckily, his cheeks stayed their usual pale color and Lois didn't notice his bashful side showing through.


	22. Chapter 22

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Two**

Clark waited at the front of the sanctuary. Friends and family were assembled in the pews he was facing; everybody was waiting for the doors at the back to open up and let Lois in. Clark could see the familiar faces in the crowd, some of which he hadn't seen for years, but he wasn't focused on the crowd right now. It was all Clark could do not to use his x-ray vision and peek at her behind the door, he could hear her heart beating, knew exactly where she was standing. He'd been restraining himself all day and he was at breaking point.

The wedding march started, filling the vaulted hall with sound. If Clark hadn't seen the organist's fingers preparing to play the music he would've flinched it was so loud, but he'd been watching the man at the keyboard almost as closely as he'd been watching the door.

First Elizabeth, Lois's younger niece, entered with her bouquet of flowers with Jason, who was playing ring-bearer. Jimmy and Lucy came in next as the best man and matron of honor. Clark and Jimmy were in matching tuxedos, the only difference being Jimmy's black bow-tie as compared to Clark's pale blue, matching Lucy's bridesmaid's dress. Jason and Elizabeth had smaller versions of what their parents were wearing and were getting their cheeks pinched to an extreme, though people came away from pinching Jason's cheek with sore fingers instead of Jason getting a sore cheek.

Clark tensed with anticipation; Lois was next. He hadn't seen her since they'd woken up this morning, not even at breakfast.

She entered on her father's arm and took Clark's breath away. She'd chosen a strapless dress that dragged along the floor behind her for at least four feet as she walked. The bodice was decorated by hundreds tiny faux-pearls sewn in intricate patterns from the top to the waist. The pearls were concentrated at the center of the bust creating a swirling pattern that stemmed out to become the tendrils of pearls that trailed down the rest of the bodice. The skirt was untouched by pearls or embroidery, the fabric an pure white waterfall down to the floor, trailing behind like a white river. She'd opted against a veil, wearing her hair half pulled back from her face, the rest falling onto her shoulders and down her back in smooth, dark curls. The hairstylist, a woman Clark hadn't actually met, had decorated the curls on the back of her head with more faux-pearls.

Clark was having trouble breathing; luckily, he could hold his breath for a number of hours if he had too. He felt lightheaded anyway.

Then she was at his side, the general, in his dress uniform, handing her off with a watery grin. Clark gave a small smile to the older man before training his eyes back on Lois. Once they were there they couldn't look away, and neither could hers. They barely heard anything the minister was saying, they were much too busy looking at each other.

They said "I do" and kissed. Mindful of their audience, they didn't kiss like they wanted to, but they didn't hold back as much as they normally did in public. Holding hands, they made their way through the church full of well-wishers and, eventually, out the front door where they were assaulted by bubbles that Jason had insisted they hand out. There was a limo waiting at the end of the sidewalk, courtesy of Bruce Wayne, who would also be watching over Metropolis for Clark while he was on his honeymoon in addition to his usual duties in Gotham as a wedding present.

Clark helped Lois into the limo before going around and getting in the other door. It was spacious, which was a good thing because Lois's dress took up a lot of room and so did Clark's 6'4" frame. They looked at each other for a moment before kissing again, wrapping their arms around each other and pulling close. Clark was doing his best to keep Lois's hair in its perfect state, knowing she'd kill him later if he knocked the pearls loose or something even if she enjoyed what he was doing now. She didn't have the reservations for his hair, though; but then, he hadn't been the one sitting in the stylist's chair for three and a half hours that afternoon.

They arrived at the reception hall before everybody else, making their way to a back room where they could spend some time together before everybody else arrived. The first to get there was Martha with Jason in tow. He had taken his tie off, stuffing it in his pocket to his father's amusement. Martha held a tissue in one hand, pulling Jason along behind her with the other. She had her hair pulled back into her usual silvery bun, but wore a beautiful pale green dress that she'd bought a few days after she'd learned Lois was living with Clark. She'd never tell either of them, but she'd been able to see what they hadn't even then.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Jason said, rushing up to them.

"Jason!" Lois said, hugging him close before looking at him carefully. "What happened to your bow tie?"

"I took it off."

"Why?"

"It itched."

"Well, where is it? You should wear it to say hi to everybody so you look nice."

"But when I look nice they pinch my cheeks."

"Only because they think you look cute."

"Then I don't want to look cute, and anyways… I lost it," he lied. Clark smirked, walking up and pulling it out of his son's pocket. Jason frowned. "I still don't want to wear it."

"How about this," Clark said, untying his own bow tie so that it just hung around his neck. "We'll leave them on, but not tied so they're not itchy."

"Okay," Jason said, sounding a lot happier.

- - -

The reception went smoothly, to put it simply.

They had dinner, there were speeches and toasts, the clinking of glasses filled the hall more than once; so often, in fact, that by the end of dinner Clark's ears didn't even turn pink anymore. Jason only had one mishap with his x-ray vision, squeezing his eyes shut in the middle of dinner until it had passed. Clark kept an ear out for the city around them, but was relieved to hear Batman taking care of things.

After dinner they danced late into the night. Lois and Clark started it off, then they had a father-daughter dance for Lois and the general that Clark and Martha joined halfway through the song. Eventually, it was a free for all. Clark could tell that his mother was missing his father, but there wasn't much he could do; he was missing Jonathan too.

"He'd be so happy for you, Clark," Martha whispered to him while they danced. Lois was dancing with Jason not to far away, holding the little boy close for the slow dance and having a whispered conversation about all the things he was going to do at Grandma Martha's the following week.

"I know," Clark said softly back. "I still wish he was here."

"I do too," Martha sighed.

- - -

It was late by the standards of those with children when Lois and Clark left their reception.

Martha assured them that she had everything under control with Jason. She'd survived one young alien without knowing what to expect, she could survive another with the experiences from the first. She had plane tickets back to Smallville for the pair of them on a commercial flight for the following afternoon, and Jason's bags were already packed. Jason was upset to see them go, asking again and again if he could come with them to Paris.

"Goodbye, Jason," Lois said, ignoring his complaints. "Have fun with Grandma; we'll see you next weekend," she smiled, giving him a hug. He returned it grumpily, not wanting to miss the opportunity to say goodbye, but still wanting to be angry with her.

"Bye Jason, be good for Grandma," Clark said, hugging his son and getting the same reaction.

"Bye," Jason said to them both sulkily.

"Bye Mom," Clark said, standing up and giving his mother a hug. "Thanks for taking him this week."

"Of course, dear," Martha said, hugging him tight and not wanting to let go, but she did. She took Lois in her arms next. "Have a nice time in Paris you two."

"Thank you, Martha," Lois said, pulling out of the embrace to hug her son one last time.

They said goodbye to the rest of the guests, getting hugs and handshakes on their way to the door. They'd be taking the limo back to their apartment where they'd get their bags and Clark would change into Superman to bring Lois to Paris. They were taking a chance, especially with Lois still in her wedding dress, but they'd decided it would be worth it.

They landed in the empty alley a short walk from their hotel less than a half an hour later. They were both holding back huge smiles; they'd flown past the Eiffel Tower moments ago and had kissed, promising things to come. They'd never kissed while when flying that low before, it was too risky. Of course, Lois was in her wedding dress and Superman had kissed her… nobody had seen, though. Clark had checked the area as soon as they'd realized what they were doing. All of the other people within human sight were otherwise occupied and not looking to the skies at the moment.

They stood just looking at each other for a few minutes once they reached their hotel room. It was a luxury suite at a top-notch hotel. This was not coming cheap. But that was the luxury of having super-hero buddies whose alter-egos happened to be billionaires. Clark thanked everything worth thanking that the Green Arrow had put together the Justice League and that he had joined. He hadn't told Lois that that was where their funding was coming from and she didn't seem to care; he'd tell her someday, but they had more important things to do right now.

"There's not even a pink polar bear rug," Clark commented, thinking of the honeymoon suite they'd stayed in at Niagara falls _so_ many years ago. Lois smiled. She didn't remember most of what had happened at Niagara Falls or in the time after they'd left, but she remembered the suite.

"Thank goodness," she said, she didn't want to think of what was probably living in the fake fur that creature was made of.

Smiling, Clark walked over to her, circling his arms around her and taking in her scent. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?" He asked, kissing the skin under her ear gently.

"Never hurts to hear it again," Lois whispered back, running her hands across his back and up into his hair.

"I love you, Lois," he whispered, trailing kisses up her jaw and towards her lips.

"I love you, too, Clark, so much," she whispered back before his lips found hers and they were both happy to stop talking for the rest of the night.


	23. Chapter 23

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Three**

Jason threw the ball for Shelby again, watching the golden retriever happily lope across the yard and retrieve it. For an aging dog, Shelby was remarkably energetic, and it was a good thing. Jason had a lot of energy too, especially since he was getting so much sunshine.

He'd gotten the window seat yesterday morning when they'd flown to Smallville. He'd been a little disappointed by the plain, telling his grandma that it wasn't the same as flying with his dad. Martha had nodded knowingly, but reminded him to keep quiet about it. They'd stopped by Ben's farm to pick up Shelby, who he'd been keeping an eye on while Martha was in Metropolis. Ben had taken them to lunch at the Talon, Lana's coffee shop / bistro, before bidding them goodbye to go tend his vegetable garden.

Jason had had trouble deciding what to do first. Since they'd arrived on kind of a dreary day, Jason had spent the last half of Sunday watching the old home movies with Martha, going through half the popcorn and all of the crème soda in the house. He'd had trouble getting to sleep that night, staring at the red dot glowing on his father's old bedroom ceiling and wishing he was with his parents. He'd eventually fallen asleep and felt immediately better when he woke to find fluffy blueberry pancakes waiting for him downstairs and endless sunshine pouring down on them outside.

Martha watched from the window as her grandson played with the dog. He was very good at controlling his strength now, and he seemed to know the dog's limits. Eventually, though, the boy and dog got tired of playing that game and went into the barn to explore. Martha wasn't worried about him, there wasn't much in the barn he could hurt or be hurt by. The horses were and had always been docile, and the only piece of equipment not out in the fields today was the old tractor that had broken again. She made a mental note to have Clark giving the tractor a good talking to when he came to pick Jason up.

"Jason, lunch!" Martha called about an hour later. Boy and dog were still in the barn happily occupied, she'd been able to hear him giggling almost the entire time.

"Coming!" Jason called back.

They had the most excellent peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Jason had ever tasted, or so he told his grandma, for lunch with crunchy apples and chocolate milk. Jason happily ate everything on the table, surprising his grandma.

"You're a bottomless pit, aren't you?" She asked, laughing. Clark hadn't eaten that much until he was at least five years older, beginning to show his abilities. But then Martha remembered Jason was developing powers and probably needed the extra energy. She'd never been sure if food did anything for Clark, but the boy working his way through the third apple she'd cut certainly seemed to need it; he was half human, after all. Maybe he'd need a balance of what served as nutrition for his Kryptonian father, and what worked for his Earth-bound mother.

"Mom says I have a hollow leg," Jason said, shoving another apple wedge into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. "Is that possible, Grandma?"

"No," Martha chuckled, shaking her head. "But people say it a lot. Just like we say that you're a bottomless pit even though you're really not."

"Oh," Jason moved on, shoving another wedge in his mouth and looking out the window. "I like it here."

"Me too, dear," Martha smiled. They were interrupted a moment later by a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Jason said, hopping out of his chair and jogging to the door. Martha smiles, clearing the table off quickly before joining him at the now open door.

"Lana!" Martha says, surprised. Lana looks equally surprised, but she's looking at Jason.

"Mrs. Kent!" Lana says, her head jerking up. "Hi! I just, um, I found this at the Talon last night when we closed… it's yours, isn't it?"

"Yes, dear, thank you… do you want to come in? Have some coffee? It's been awhile since we've had a moment," Martha says, taking the light jacket she'd left at the Talon the previous afternoon.

"Um, sure," Lana says against her better judgment, looking at the familiar boy with curiosity. She knows she's seem him somewhere before but can't put her finger on it.

"Jason, honey, you can go ahead back out with Shelby if you want," Martha says when the boy follows them back into the kitchen.

"K," Jason replies, whistling softly for the dog before they both disappear into the barn again.

"Jason…?" Lana asks, suddenly making the connection. "As in Jason Lane? Lois Lanes' son?"

"Yes, and Clark's son," Martha replies with an affectionate smile.

"… Clark's son…?" Lana manages.

"Yes, he's six years old," Martha was still smiling with grandmotherly pride, not noticing the other woman's discomfort. "Lois and Clark are on their honeymoon in Paris this week and I offered to keep track of Jason while they were away."

"They weren't married before?" Lana asks, not able to imagine Clark of all people having a child out of wedlock.

"No, that was a bit… complicated," Martha says, finally seeing a bit of the discomfort Lana was feeling. "So, how have you been lately, Lana? I haven't seen you around as much as usual."

"Oh, you know," Lana shrugs casually. "I've been keeping things up at the Talon… I was thinking about buying that empty building across the street, fixing it up and moving over there; it's got more space and the business is going really well. I might turn the lower level of the Talon into more apartments to rent out then."

"That's a great idea, dear," Martha says, letting the conversation take its course away from her son and grandson, knowing Lana didn't feel that things were truly resolved between them.

- - -

Lois and Clark strolled through Paris hand in hand. Their week was reaching its end and they were about ready to call in to Perry and beg for another week. But they couldn't do that to Jason.

They'd spent the first half of the week in their room ordering room service and enjoying the luxurious life. On Wednesday, though, they'd gone out of dinner at a fancy restaurant with the best food they'd ever tasted. Now it was Thursday and they were wandering around the park, looking up at the Eiffel Tower. Lunch had been almost an hour ago at a corner café. They couldn't get over how relaxed they were.

"I wish life could be like this every day," Lois admitted, hugging his arm close as they walked.

"Me too," Clark sighed. He'd fallen asleep and woken up by her side every day all week. That would probably never happen again during their marriage and he regretted it. "Well, Mrs. Kent," he said, smiling down at her, "what are you going to do with me for the rest of the day?"

"Well," she said, grinning back, "I think its about time we saw some of the sights."

"We've seen all the sights," he reminded her. They'd flown over Paris a couple of times when they'd found time to go flying together in recent months, it was how they had decided where to go on their honeymoon; flying over famous cities and popular honeymoon destinations to come to a decision.

"Yes," Lois confirmed, "but not from the ground… and we don't have any pictures."

"I never expected to find a photographer in you, 'Lo," he said, chuckling and she smiled back. They set off again, Lois pulling out the small digital camera to take photos of the places they were seeing, trying to get themselves in the shot as well.

They'd spent hours talking about the change in name that usually followed a marriage. Clark had suggested she keep her own name because she was famous for it, after all. Lois, however, admitted that she wanted to have his name. She wanted Jason to have his name, too. For awhile they'd considered hyphenating their names, but Lois thought it was tacky, as though they weren't really committed to each other. Clark had admonished that sharing a name didn't define their relationship. Eventually, though, he'd given in. Lois would change her name to Kent, as would Jason, but she would continue to use her maiden name for her articles.

- - -

Lois came into full consciousness with a groan. It was Saturday morning. They'd be heading to Smallville in the afternoon to spend some time with Martha and Jason before they returned to Metropolis after dinner. Oh the benefits of knowing a man that can fly.

She sighed, rolling over and finding herself falling into the deep blue eyes of her husband. Husband. That had taken all week to settle into her mind, but it had finally made it and couldn't help but smile.

"They sure make some nice eyes on Krypton," she said, stroking his cheek before letting her hand fall to the back of his head and play with the hair it happened upon.

"They don't make 'em so bad on Earth either," he said, not breaking eye contact.

"I'm going to miss this," Lois admits after a minute. Even without saying it, Clark knows exactly what she's talking about.

"Me too," he sighs. "I think its one of the only things I dislike about helping people."

"Well, maybe you should just talk to Batman or somebody and he can cover for you," Lois smirked, not able to see Superman and Batman having a conversation. Clark smiles knowingly, making Lois narrow her eyes at him. "What?"

"Batman's covering for me right now," he chuckles at the astonished look on her face.

"You mean you know Batman?"

"We all know each other," he admits. "The Green Arrow had this idea that we should for a group, the Justice League, he calls it… We mostly keep to ourselves and our cities, but it helps when we can contact and cover for each other."

"Really?"

"Yep," Clark shrugs, sitting up in bed. Lois sighs again, missing his heat immediately. Hearing the sigh he smiles over his shoulder and leans in for a kiss.

"So what do you know about them?" Lois asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. "How much do they know about you?"

"We know who each other are," he shrugged. "The Green Arrow has three kids, Batman got married right before I left; I covered for him during his honeymoon."

"That's weird."

"It's nice to have people to talk to about it," he admitted. "I think their wives are planning a party for you."

"What?"

"They call it their Superhero Support Group," he chuckled. "They sit around and complain about things that you can all identify with… waking up alone, for instance," he said sadly. She sat up and wrapped her arms around him again.

"Is there some pact about not even mentioning other superdudes until we're married or something?" Lois asked, fishing through her suitcase for fresh clothes.

"No, it just… didn't come up, I guess," he shrugged, doing similarly with his own suitcase.

"It's an interesting… thing, though," Lois said, stopping her search to look at Clark again. "I guess I never thought about any of the others, Batman or somebody, having a life outside of what they do."

"Well, people really aren't supposed to," Clark shrugged. "That's just the way it works."

"Thank goodness for that," Lois said, not wanting to think about what would happen if another 'bad guy' found out that she was Superman's family.

- - -

Lana was back at the Kent farm when Lois and Clark arrived, claiming to have taken a taxi.

"So how was your, um, honeymoon?" Lana asked awkwardly. "In Paris, was it?"

"Yeah, um," Clark said, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"It's a beautiful city," Lois said, smiling warmly at her husband.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Jason said, running out of the barn closely followed by the dog.

"Jason!" Lois said, taking a few steps and getting to him first, bending over to scoop him up in her arms. Lana's smile faltered for a moment, she'd known Jason was Clark's son, but seeing them in the same place and hearing the words made it all the more real. They had the same eyes, their hair parted the same way… the little things.

"So what're you doing here?" Clark asked conversationally after he'd hugged his son and watched Jason drag Lois off by the hand towards the barn to show her 'something really cool.'

"Oh, you know," Lana shrugged. "It's a small town, I'm just out visiting," Clark nodded, accepting the excuse. In truth Lana had wanted to see Clark again, see for herself that her high school flame had really moved on. She hadn't believed that he had a son, not able to put the little boy she'd watched play with the dog for hours on end that afternoon next to the young man she'd grown up with and even dated for a few months. She had trouble putting Clark Kent next to Lois Lane as well, knowing a bit about Lois's personality from their first meeting months ago and from the types of articles she wrote.

"Well, it's good to see you again so soon, Lana," he said, trying to let the awkwardness pass by ignoring it. It didn't work. "So, you know what Jason has in the barn that's so amazing?"

"No, he was just going to show me, actually," Lana said. They walked together to the barn after Clark had put the luggage on the front porch.

"Daddy, look!" Jason said, crawling out from a hollow he'd made in the square bales of hay stacked against the far wall. Clark narrowed his eyes, looking closely at the structure his son created, noticing Lois looking on with similar awe. Lana's mouth fell open slightly. It looked like he had made a castle out of the hay with a tunnel through the bottom that Clark could see turned into two different chambers near the back of the barn. Surprisingly, the structure was stable, almost as though they'd been stacked like that to begin with instead of burrowed through after the fact.

"Wow, Jason," Clark managed. His son's smile was huge before he disappeared into his fort.

"Clark? Lois? Was that you I just heard?" Martha's voice came from just outside the barn. "I saw the luggage…"

"Hi Mom, we're in here," Clark called, walking out into the yard to give her a hug.

**Okay, if you can't tell, I'm running out of ideas here. Where do you want to see this fic go? Are we ready to say 'and they all lived happily ever after'? Or is there some lane I should be walking down before this comes to an end? Personally, I don't really want it to end yet, but it just kind of feels like its winding down. Opinions?**


	24. Chapter 24

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Four**

"So Lois, I've got a question for you," Georgianna said, moving a folder aside so she could sit on Lois's desk and look down at the famous reporter. It was Monday and Lois and Clark had been back at the _Planet _for a month now, or at least Lois was, Clark was off being Superman again.

"Okay…?" Lois said, wishing the woman would just leave her alone. She'd been bugging her non-stop about Superman mostly, asking question after question, mostly about the hero's personal life.

"Does Superman have a secret identity?" Georgianna watched her closely, and Lois couldn't help but glare at her.

"If he did it would be none of our business," she said coolly, picking up the folder Georgianna had moved and flipping through it.

"You know who he is, don't you?" Georginana said, her voice dropping to an excited whisper.

"Georgianna," Lois said, almost whined. "Why are you asking me all these questions? I've printed everything I know about him…"

"You're lying."

"I am not," she said, crossing her arms in front of her and glaring up at the woman on the desk. "Now get off my desk, I have work to do."

"I'm gonna figure it out," Georgianna whispered as she got up, "and when I do, I'm gonna do something about it, not sit back and marry the biggest dork in the department."

Lois flushed and glared after her as Georgianna sauntered over to her own desk across the bullpen. Lois was still glaring when she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder, her face softening immediately. "Don't let her get to you, 'Lo," Clark said softly, kissing her forehead.

"I just don't like her insulting you like that," Lois sighed, snapping the folder shut and looking up at him. He had taken Georgianna's spot on her desk.

"Lois," Clark sighed. "I can hear everything everybody says in this office. I'm not the most popular guy and you know it."

"But, still," Lois harrumphed. Clark kissed her again before heading over to his own desk to work on his share of their articles.

- - -

"LANE, I mean Kent, I mean… LOIS, get in here!" Perry shouted from his door. Lois snickered, jogging across the bullpen and into Perry's office.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"Your name got a lot more complicated," Perry muttered, shaking his head before getting down to business. "Okay, I have a proposition for you."

Lois looked at him carefully, he never looked this sincere. "Okay…"

'There's an assistant editor position open here," he said, watching her carefully. "Richard's replacement got a job offer overseas; I want you to take the position."

"But, chief… me?"

"Yes, you, Lois," Perry said, still more sincere than she was used to.

"R-really, Chief? I mean, um," she couldn't think of what to say and suddenly Perry was laughing at her. "What?"

"You sound like your husband on a bad day," Perry shook his head and Lois glared at him. "You don't have to decide now, Lois, it's a big deal. I'll give you a week to talk it over with him."

"Thanks Chief," Lois mumbled, walking out to her desk to think. _Great, now I've got even more we have to talk about._ She sighed. She'd been looking for a good time to talk; she had to tell him a few rather important things and hadn't been able to come up with a way to do it.

- - -

"Clark, how can we afford to eat such good food all the time?" Lois asked, sitting back and staring at the plate that had held the most delicious Greek baklava she'd ever tasted.

"I know the good corner stops around the globe," Clark's lips twitched at the corners. "It's not overly expensive to eat well if you know the places to buy from."

"You really are Superman," Lois chuckled, getting up for some coffee.

"I try," Clark smirked. Wedded life was bliss, plain and simple.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow, Jason?" Lois asked, walking into Jason's bedroom where the boy was tinkering out a melody on the keyboard he'd gotten for Christmas.

"Yup," Jason said without looking up.

"Get you jammies on now, then, hun," she said. He did so with the groaning and whining expected from a six year old.

Lois gulped. Jason was asleep, Clark was watching the news, and it was time to talk. She sat beside him, letting herself get caught up in the news program for a moment; pilots were on strike at an international airport outside of Metropolis for some reason or another.

"Are you okay, Lois?" Clark asked, noticing the tension and her elevated heartbeat that usually meant stress.

"Yeah, I've just… there's something I need to talk to you about," she turned to him. He turned the TV off, looking at her worriedly.

"Okay," he felt his own blood pressure rising.

"Perry offered me a promotion today."

"Really? That's great!" He said smiling both with happiness for her and relief that she wasn't unhappy about something. "Are you going to accept? I know you like, you know, going out and getting stories and stuff," he shrugged.

"Actually, I was thinking about getting off the city beat for awhile," she said, not making eye contact.

"Why?" He asked, suddenly suspicious. There was no way Lois would willingly stop going after the big stories that could get her killed: they'd been back for less than a week when Lois had busted a big time drug dealer of the back alleys. They'd had junkies showing up on their doorstep complaining about it, sending both of them into the classified ads looking for new housing.

"Well," she swallowed. "It just gets hard to, you know, walk around and be pushy when… um," she finally looked up at him. "When you're pregnant."

"You're pregnant?" He asked, barely believing what he was hearing. Lois nodded, smiling and holding out the home pregnancy test she'd been hiding. Clark took it, looking down at the little screen that affirmed the statement.

"Yes," she said uncertainly, her eyes were wet. Clark smiled up at her, putting the test on the table and taking her face in his hands tenderly.

"I'm going to be here this time," he promised before kissing her.

"I know," was her answer and they lost themselves into the folds of the couch. Lois opened her eyes what seemed like blissful hours later and looked around. They weren't on the couch anymore; they were hovering near the ceiling.


	25. Chapter 25

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Five**

Clark was in orbit again. It was the middle of the night in Metropolis but he couldn't sleep. Lois was pregnant. He couldn't help but smile. He'd been rescuing people from the most horrible tragedies of their lives all night with a smile on his face that would send everybody at the _Planet _into shock when they noticed the similarity between him and his other self.

He'd done a loop-da-loop earlier. He could hardly contain himself and it was getting ridiculous. Consciously settling himself down, Clark tuned his ears to the rest of the world again.

He was almost disappointed to find the world mostly at peace. Nothing out there required Superman's assistance. He looked deeper; it seemed like other superheroes were just as inactive as he was. Batman was cruising just outside Gotham in his Batmobile, Queen blasting from the speakers at a level he'd be ashamed to admit to. The Green Arrow's youngest had the stomach flu, meaning poor Ollie was up trying to comfort the boy. Wonder Woman was hovering in the sky in similar fashion to himself, only she wasn't in orbit. She looked distracted, though, he didn't think she'd appreciate him dropping in on her thoughts; she'd always been a bit separate from all of her male counterparts.

For a moment Clark considered paying a visit to the Watchtower. He hadn't been there in years, the last meeting having occurred months before he'd left for Krypton. He had been in contact with all of them shortly after his return, getting the latest technology for communications and updates on all of their lives. They didn't blame him for leaving, but they were quite pissed that he hadn't deigned to tell them.

Clark searched the Earth below him, knowing that if he went home to sleep next to Lois now he'd be called away in the wee hours of the morning and wouldn't be able to wake up to his wife. After making a full circulation of the globe two more times, he gave up. Criminals never cooperated whether he was trying to talk them into giving up crime, or committing their crimes on a schedule that worked for him.

Clark chuckled to himself, flying back to Metropolis.

Lois barely noticed the shift on the mattress when it took his weight. He'd exhausted her in their earlier activities celebrating her pregnancy; this thought made him smile even wider as he spooned up to her back, holding her close while she slept. He'd been right in his earlier thoughts, there was no way he could sleep right now. However, he loved lying in bed with Lois just as well.

- - -

Lois woke early, surprised to find a warm body pressed against her back and even more surprised to find that Clark was _asleep_. It was rare for her to wake up with him still in bed and rarer still for him to be sleeping when she woke. Spinning around in his arms, Lois took in his features, resisting the urge to touch his face.

His eyes opened a second later, bright blue orbs that made her insides turn to mush in all the right ways. She smiled at him and he smiled back. "Good morning," he whispered, not moving.

"Good morning," she replied, leaning in the few centimeters required to kiss him. They stay there for a few seconds until they heard Jason moving around in the outer room. Clark glanced through the wall and saw him trying to find the remote. Jason was nearing the couch, where Clark could see it wedged between two of the seat cushions, but Jason was looking on the floor. "He's up awfully early today," she commented, kissing him once more before they rolled out of bed together, Clark keeping himself against her back until they were sitting on the edge of the bed.

"It's Saturday morning, he's up for the cartoons," Clark shrugged, remembering his own infatuation with the cartoons that used to play; Daffy Duck was very different from SpongeBob, but equally entertaining to the mind of a six year old.

"Ah, cartoons," Lois chuckled, leaning back against him and not wanting to move anymore.

"We'd better go out there," Clark sighed, his eyes crinkling with humor.

"Why?" Lois almost whined, making Clark chuckle

"He's about to lift up the couch in search of the remote."

"Is it under the couch?"

"Nope."

"Then you'd better intervene," she sighed, pulling away from him. They both felt a little emptier when they separated.

Breakfast was ready twenty minutes later, bringing 'jellyfishing' on the TV to a sudden halt. Clark had made omelets with ham and cheese with hashbrowns on the side. They sat together at the table, enjoying having something more than coffee to start their day for once in the week.

- - -

Georgianna had recruited the newest photographer, a young woman named Sarah Ricks, to take part in her 'find out everything possible about Superman through Lois Lane' plan. The photographer was new enough not to know that it was a bad idea first to trust Georgianna, and second to get on the wrong side of Lois Lane, now Lois Kent.

"I want you to follow her around," Georgianna instructed the new employee. Sarah was a short girl, rising to barely over five feet, and wore conservative clothes and small wire framed reading glasses, usually tucked in her hair above her forehead.

"But, I've got assignments," Sarah protested.

"Lois is always out getting the biggest stories, you follow her around, take pictures of her and the big event, you'll be fine."

"But Mr. Olsen always goes with her," Sarah pointed out. "So does Mr. Kent," she would be the first to admit that she found the 6'4" giant intimidating, even if he tripped over his own feet on his way to shake her hand on her first day.

"Find excuses to be with them, tell them you're tagging Jimmy to get experience," Georgianna suggested.

"But, they'll talk to Mr. White… I'll lose my job."

"No, you won't," Georgianna said, not able to guarantee anything, but the girl didn't know that. "And I'll be throwing in a little extra for the photos you get that are worthwhile," she shrugged.

"You'll what? Are you bribing me?"

"No, I'm paying you for putting in extra time for me!" Georgianna said, sounding offended at the suggestion that she would think of doing exactly what she was doing. "I know it's going to take some extra work, especially if you want to get the really worthwhile pictures, like at their house, or something."

"At their house? Georgianna…" Sarah shook her head, entirely uncomfortable with the idea of stalking the Kents.

"Give it a week, Sarah," Georgianna almost pleaded. "If you're still uncomfortable with it or we haven't turned up anything we'll drop it, I promise."

"Okay," Sarah agreed after a thoughtful pause while she chewed her lip.

Across the room Clark swore under his breath, causing Lois's head to jerk up to stare at him. He was standing behind her, presumably proof-reading their article.

"What's got you all bothered?" Lois asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Georgianna's going at it again."

"No," Lois sighed, dreading whatever he was going to tell her.

"Yes," he sighed. "She's enlisted the help of that Sarah Ricks, the new photographer," he paused to let her give comment, but she just waited for him to continue. "She's supplementing Sarah's salary so Sarah will follow you around to try and get some insight into Superman."

Lois swore under her breath in a similar manner as Clark had moments ago, only her language was slightly more vulgar and not in Kryptonian. "What are we going to do?"

"What can we do?" She bit her lip. "We'll just have to be a lot more careful, Lois."

"A _lot _more careful," Lois agreed.

"Do you think we should talk to Perry about it?"

"She's the new photographer, emphasis on the new," Lois pointed out. "Chances are if we confront her she'll leave us alone. Let's just give her a shot at following us before you pull a serious face and cross your arms while I tell her what she's got coming," Lois was smiling at the image she'd painted for herself.

"A serious face with crossed arms? How will that help?" Clark asked, not seeing it.

"Oh c'mon, Clark; it's intimidating," she said. His face got serious and he crossed his arms, making Lois smile. He smiled back after a moment.

"See, no its not."

"Not to me," Lois clarified. "I know you too well."

Clark just sighed; he'd never been able to see himself as intimidating even if he could do just about anything anybody had ever dreamed of doing.

- - -

Their chance came when they left for their first interview of the day. It was a follow-up to the drug busting article of a few weeks previous and they certainly didn't need a photographer. Jimmy was off photographing some grand opening of something or another and Perry had assigned Sarah to take some after photos for an update on the rebuilding of Metropolis theme they'd been running since the New Krypton fiasco. There was an excuse to follow the Kents, there were no photos of that part of the city yet, but Lois and Clark were also aware that Sarah certainly didn't need pictures of the inside of the building where they were conducting their interviews.

"Miss Ricks," Lois said, turning abruptly to face the young photographer. Sarah looked like she was going to be sick. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, um, well I-" she shrugged. She glanced at Clark standing behind his wife, he had his arms crossed and looked _extremely_ serious. The color drained a bit more from her face, if possible. "I have a cousin, actually. I was looking for him…"

"A cousin who hangs around in the slums by the docks where we're looking to interview addicts?"

"Well, he's made a few bad choices along the way but… he's still my cousin," she shrugged. The look on her face plainly told them that she was lying.

"Right, okay, well," Lois said, shaking her head. "Do you think we could interview him for the story or..?"

"No, I don't think so," Sarah said a little too quickly. "I haven't seen him around here, I was kind of hoping to get him away before he said anything stupid…"

"Right," Lois said, pretending to buy the story. "I guess we'll see you back at work then."

"Yeah," Sarah said, turning and rushing out of the building. Lois glared at the space she'd just vacated while Clark watched her flee through the wall.

**Yeah, I'm aware this isn't the best chapter ever- just wanted to get what I had in so you all could have _something_. It's been awhile. This is kind of a bridge, so... yeah. More soon, promise.**


	26. Chapter 26

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Six**

"She's back again," Lois sighed, annoyed. Sarah Ricks wasn't very good at tagging her without being noticed, but Clark had convinced his wife not to confront her again, as it obviously hadn't worked.

"I know, but she's out of earshot, so…" Clark shrugged. "Just ignore her, there're slightly more important things going on right now, anyways," he pointed out.

"True," Lois said, smiling. They started making the calls to tell friends and family about the baby. Martha Kent had already been called, she was ecstatic, as had a few of their mutual contacts and friends. Jimmy and Perry knew at the bullpen, and so did the rumor mill. They were now down to Lois's family. Lucy and Ron, and the General. Clark had seen General Lane three times since the wedding; all of those times had been as Superman. That thought had led to their current predicament. "Do you really think we should tell them?" Lois asked.

"They're family now," Clark pointed out. Lois shrugged, taking a huge bite out of her club sandwich before speaking again.

"But still," she sighed. "They don't _need_ to know."

"True, but I know you want somebody besides my mother to talk to about certain aspects of our lives," he smiled. Jason was developing his existing abilities every day, scaring the wits out of his mother when she walked into his room to find his desk spanning the distance between his bed and his dress while he played the troll under the bridge.

"Can we, I don't know."

"How about we tell the General first when he visits this weekend, when we were planning on telling him about the baby," he suggested. Lois still looked uncertain. "We've got two days till then to work out the perfect way to break it to him."

"I'm not sure whether I should be more nervous about telling him I'm pregnant or telling him who I married."

"Well, he already knows who you married…"

"Yeah, he just doesn't have all the facts," she shuddered. "He hates it when that happens."

"So he's gonna be mad…?" Clark asked, a little surprised. "He gets along with me well enough no matter what I wear."

"Yes, well, the world respects Superman, and he tolerates Clark Kent, but when you tell him what you're going to tell him… he's going to have trouble patching his impressions together."

"I'm just me," Clark sighed, running a tired hand through his hair and turning back to his own grilled chicken sandwich.

"Which is precisely what's so confusing," Lois smirked, taking another overlarge bite.

"Are you hungry or something, 'Lo?" He smirked back at her while she chewed.

"I happen to be pregnant, thankyouverymuch, I'm allowed to be hungry."

"I didn't say you weren't allowed to be hungry, I've just never seen you eat something with such… gusto," he shrugged.

"Gusto," she said back, taking another bite.

"Yeah," he smiled. "Must be a good sandwich."

"It is."

"Good to hear," he took a moderate bite of his sandwich, still smiling, and they continued their lunch.

- - -

Lois was wearing a hole in the floor with her pacing. General Lane would arrive any second, and she'd given into Clark, agreeing to tell her father everything. Clark was in the kitchen, calmly stirring the chili he'd made. It smelled wonderful. Jason was at Matt's house for the afternoon; his parents hadn't thought of a good way to tell him about the baby yet and didn't want him overhearing their conversation with his grandfather. They'd have to tell him soon, and they both knew it.

Clark pulled the cornbread out of the oven and turned to watch his wife pace for a moment, chuckling to himself. He tilted his head and just listened for a moment, gasping at what he heard. Putting the bread on a hot pad, he made his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her back. She relaxed immediately, putting her hands over his around her waist and just standing there.

"You're a nervous wreck," he commented.

"How could you tell?"

"Well," he chuckled. "There was the pacing, and then your heart rate is through the roof…"

"That's cheating."

"Well," he shrugged, closing his eyes and listening again.

"Is it better now?" She asked, joking. She couldn't help but relax when she was in Clark's arms.

"Lois, I can hear the baby's heartbeat," he whispered softly in her ear.

"What?" She asked, turning around in his arms, her hand coming off of his to touch her still flat stomach. "Really?"

"Yes," he nodded, smiling and looking down at her hand. "There's two of them."

"What?" She asked, looking down as well. "That means..."

"Twins," he whispered.

"Hey, no peeking," she said, taking a step back. "We decided it was going to be a surprise."

"They're not even an inch long right now, Lois," he reminded her. They'd bought a single baby book for Clark's benefit, Lois claiming that she remembered enough that she would just re-read the pamphlets the doctors gave her and be set to go. Of course, Clark caught her reading through the book she 'didn't need' on more than one occasion.

"Still," she said, giving him a serious look. He just smiled and pulled her close again. "I wish I could hear them too," she whispered after they'd been standing there for a few moments. Clark rubbed his hand across her back.

"Me too," not for the first time he wished he could somehow let her hear and see things the way he did. The heartbeats of his wife and his unborn child beat in his ears, blocking out everything else.

"Twins," Lois whispered, sounding overwhelmed and extremely happy at the same time. Clark just smiled. "That's him," Lois whispered, sounding terrified when she heard the tapping on their door.

"Yup," Clark affirmed, glancing through the door.

"Is it too late to pretend like we're not home?"

"Lois," he said, rolling his eyes at her as he crossed to open the door.

"Wait, your glasses!" Lois said, handing the bulky frames to him. He wrinkled his nose at them, but put them on his face. No need to hit the General with everything at once; the pregnancy was first. If he didn't overreact to that, then they'd tell him about Superman.

"General, come on in," Clark said cheerily, opening the door wide to let the man through. It was odd to see the old military man out of uniform, the only time they'd seen him out of uniform on the base was when he'd worn his pajamas.

"Lois, Clark, good to see you," he said cheerily enough, hugging his daughter and shaking his son-in-law's hand.

"Lunch is ready, if you'd like to sit down, Daddy," Lois suggested, taking her father's coat and hanging it next to her own by the door.

"So, to what do I owe the invitation?" Sam asked after they'd gotten through the obligatory small talk.

"Actually," Clark started, glancing at Lois. She looked like she might like him to fly her off the balcony and let her sit quietly in the park while this conversation happened. She'd told him about telling her father she was pregnant with Jason; it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.

"I'm pregnant," Lois blurted out before Clark could say anything else.

"Pardon?" Sam asked, honestly not quite making sense of what his daughter had said.

"I'm going to have a baby," she repeated slower.

"Oh, honey, that's wonderful!" The general said, surprising them both.

"Wh-what?" Lois stammered. Clark was handling the surprise reaction a little better, glancing from father to daughter and using most of his mental capacity to keep his mouth from hanging open.

"That's good news, congratulations," he smiled.

"But, last time… I thought," Lois tilted her head to the side and looked at her father carefully. "Are you feeling alright, Daddy?"

"I'm great, 'Lo," he smiled even wider.

"That isn't even _close_ to the way you reacted when I told you I was having Jason."

"Well, you weren't married, then, nor were you quite able to tell me just who the father was," he said, glaring at Clark for a moment before smiling again. Clark gave him a weak smile in return. "This is great news; when are you due?"

"Um," Lois said, trying to think of the date.

"February," Clark said, snapping out of his silence.

"Honeymoon baby," the General smiled.

"Dad!" Lois said, hardly believing what she was hearing. Her father just shrugged, chuckling, and Clark blushed a dark shade of red.

The three of them sat there in silence for a moment. Lois and Clark glancing warily at each other, knowing what came next. The General just sat there, helping himself to more cornbread and smiling.

"It's twins," Clark said, he'd been listening to the three heartbeats coming from across the table and couldn't contain his smile.

"Isn't it a little too soon to know?" The General asked, looking surprised. "Have you already been to the doctor?"

"No, but," Lois shrugged. Clark had effectively thrown a wrench into the script they'd decided on for telling the General about his secret. They'd spent almost as much time worrying about how to tell the General about it as they'd spent trying to figure out how to tell him about the baby. Just saying, "General, I'm Superman." didn't seem to be the best idea.

"I can hear their heartbeats," Clark admitted, looking the General in the eye. The General smiled unbelievingly and shook his head.

"That's impossible," Sam said, knowing it was true. "Well, except for Superman, I suppose, but... but," something seemed to have clicked. He was staring at Clark, his jaw working and his eyes narrowed.

Clark took off his glasses, playing with them in his hands before looking up at the General again. His piercing blue eyes were unmistakable even to the man who'd only met the superhero a few times.

"But," the General was stammering. "But, you can't... I thought," he looked from Lois to Clark and back a few times, not putting anything coherant together.


	27. Chapter 27

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Seven**

"Clark Kent, don't you dare," Lois said. He'd gotten that far off look again that meant he had to go play Superman somewhere, and, of course, General Lane was still sitting at their kitchen table staring at them, his jaw working.

"What?" Sam said, coming out of his daze slightly.

"Lois," Clark said placatingly, he already had the first few buttons on his shirt open, sending the General back into silence, staring at the bright blue and the top of the "S" emblem peeking out.

"Clark," she held up a threatening finger, "you are _not_ leaving me to deal with this by myself!"

"It's Jason," Clark said calmly, now fully in Superman garb, opening the balcony door.

"What are you still doing here? Go!"

"Two minutes," he promised, shaking his head and smiling at her antics before disappearing from view.

"You," the General started, clearing his throat and taking a sip of water before he could continue. "You married _Superman_."

"No, I married Clark," Lois told him. "He just also happens to be Superman."

"Oh," the General obviously didn't get it.

Ten minutes of awkward silence later, Clark flew back in the window with a tearful Jason holding fistfuls of his father's primary colored suit. Clark had one arm supporting his son, the other on his head trying to keep him calm.

"Why can't we fly everywhere, Daddy? I don't want to ever ride in a car again!" Jason said through his tears. Clark just chuckled softly, rubbing his son's back and bringing him to sit with his mother on the couch.

"What happened?" Lois asked, taking Jason in her arms and holding him tight.

"They were on their way to the zoo," Clark said, changing back into his jeans and button-up shirt quickly, "and the driver in the next lane tried to change into their lane without looking."

"I hate cars," Jason said decisively.

"Was everyone okay?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken up," Clark said, rubbing his son's back before heading into the kitchen to get him something to drink. "The Gallaghers called a tow-truck, I brought Matt to one of their neighbors' house so he wouldn't have to look at the cars anymore."

"Y'know, they're going to get suspicious if you keep showing up whenever the slightest thing happens to Jason," Lois said, smirking. Jason sat up a little and took the hot cocoa Clark had warmed with his heat vision. The prospect of the hot drink seemed to take his mind well enough off his most recent trauma.

"I'm not _not_ going to show up," Clark said, watching his son carefully. Lois just smiled; Jason already seemed to have moved on, noticing his grandfather.

"General Grandpa!" He said, perking up and putting the cocoa on the table.

"Hey kiddo," Sam said, his voice only shaking a little bit. Jason's face suddenly got serious looking from his father to his grandfather suspiciously, then turning to his father again.

"Did you tell him the secret already?" He asked, and Clark just nodded. "Does that mean I can show him what I can do?!" Jason was on his feet, excited, standing right next to his father.

"Sure," Clark said, taking the spot on the couch next to Lois. General Lane looked on with nervous curiosity; it was one thing to learn that his daughter married Superman and was having his grandchildren, another thing entirely to realize that his grandchildren would share a few more Kryptonian traits. Jason gave a huge smile and ran over to his bedroom, almost running into the closed door; luckily, Clark was still faster than his son. "It's closed, Jason," he said, letting go of his son's shoulder and receiving an embarrassed smile.

"It was disappeared again," Jason sighed, squinting at the door until it came back into view. He entered the room and came out again a few seconds later with the heaviest thing he could find. General Grandpa's jaw dropped when he saw the boy walk out of his room carrying his thick wooden dresser full of clothes, the things on top rolling around and tumbling sideways as he walked.

"Jason," Clark said, rolling his eyes. "Everything's going everywhere."

"Oh yeah," Jason said, moving slightly so he could see the stuff on top and knocking a few more things off the top.

"Put it back, honey," Lois said patiently. Now the General was looking at her funny; who in their right mind could tell their child to put the almost one-hundred pound dresser back in place so calmly? The wife of Superman? There ya go.

"Did you eat lunch with the Gallaghers?" Clark asked, preparing to take some leftover chili out and reheat it for his son if necessary.

"Yup, we had peanut butter and jelly before we left for the zoo," he smiled, seeming to have forgotten about the trauma the trip to the zoo had included.

"Okay, good," Clark said, sitting down again.

"So," Lois said after a moment, looking from her father to her husband and back; Jason was entertaining himself at the kitchen table with a notepad that was almost full of pictures of the Green Arrow.

"So," the General reflected.

"Any pressing questions we should be answering?" Clark asked. The General was looking at him differently than he had ever looked at either sides of his personality. It wasn't quite the look of understanding he got from other people who knew his secret, just a confused sort of acceptance as the older man tried to assimilate the new information.

"How long have you been on Earth?" He hadn't planned on asking the question, it had just popped into his mouth and come out.

"Since I was about three years old," Clark said without hesitation.

"Really?"

"Yes," Clark shrugged. "My parents found me in the cornfield and took me in… don't ask me what possessed them to take a little boy in a spaceship into their home, but they did."

"Good thing too," Lois said, smiling and leaning back against them. Clark just nodded, smiling fondly at the memories.

"I didn't even know I was an alien until I started high school," the General looked surprised. "My parents kind of left that out of the 'you're special' conversation," he shrugged.

"Did you always have your abilities? I mean, Jason surely couldn't lift that dresser a year ago… and the asthma."

"I always had a few, the strength, the speed," he shrugged, getting an annoyed look from Lois at the repeated movement. "Everything else came later... I had a rough couple of years at the beginning, too, though; we figured it was adjusting to a new planet. That could explain some of Jason's illnesses, but... we'll never really know."

"Hm," the General seemed to be taking it rather well. They continued with the Q & A session until Clark had to run out to prevent a drowning in the English Channel, which turned into a few hours worth of superhero work. As usual, they kept the news on and kept track of his movements on mute so that Jason wouldn't quite get the whole picture.

After a particularly miraculous save involving a psychopath bent on eradicating half the corn in Iowa, Clark called home to ask after dinner.

"What does everyone want for dinner?" Lois asked, turning to her father and son who were playing Yahtzee on the coffee table.

"Pizza!" Jason shouted out.

"It would be appreciated if Superman picked up some Dominoes," Lois said into the phone.

"Can do," was Clark's reply, and he hung up to phone in the order. In the half hour it took for the pizza to be prepared, Clark made a few minor saves and put out a raging fire in New York.

**Just a side note that I'm sure will make you all laugh- my Mom noticed me doing research about pregnancies and stuff to make sure I got everything right (like when he would be able to hear the heartbeats and such) and now she thinks I might be harboring a little secret. Great fun- I wish you all could've seen the look on her face, priceless!!**


	28. Chapter 28

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Eight**

The General left after dinner, congratulating them on the babies softly in hopes of giving them the chance to tell Jason in their own way. Just before bed, however, Jason made his own way of discovery.

"Daddy?" He asked quietly while Clark was helping him brush his teeth, meaning he was watching to make sure Jason actually brushed.

"Yes?"

"Why does Mommy have three heartbeats?" If Clark had been holding something he would've dropped it.

"How about we finish up in here and then you can go ask Mommy?"

"Okay," Jason just shrugged. If his father wasn't worried about his mother's multiple hearts, then he certainly wouldn't be.

"Hey 'Lo," Clark said as they entered the general living space, walking up and hugging her from behind. Jason giggled behind them, encouraging a quick release.

"Yeah?"

"Jason has a question for you."

"Yeah?" She said again, turning to face her son. Jason smiled innocently.

"Why do you have three heartbeats?"

"What?"

"Why do you have three heartbeats?"

"Well, um, actually," Lois struggled, looking up at Clark's smiling face and glaring. "Are you going to help me with this or just smile at me, Clark?"

"I was planning on smiling for awhile, but…"

"Why does she have three heartbeats, Daddy?"

"Mommy is going to have a baby," Clark said, kneeling down next to his son so he could look him in the eye carefully.

"And the baby has two heartbeats?"

"Actually, I'm going to have two babies," Lois said, kneeling down as well. "Twins."

"So I'm going to have two little brothers?"

"Or two little sisters, or one of each," Lois said, smiling. To their dismay, Jason frowned.

"Is that okay, Jason?" Clark asked, sounding just as worried as Lois felt. Jason bit his lip and looked from parent to parent, unsure.

"Why did you want to have more kids? Am I not enough? Did I do something wrong?"

"No!" Lois said, immediately picking him up and holding him close. "No, honey, never!"

"But…" Jason was still confused.

"We wanted you to have a brother or sister to play with on a rainy day," Clark said, smiling and rubbing his son's back from behind Lois's shoulder so he could look at Jason's face.

"But I have you to play with," Jason said, his eyebrows knitting together.

"But won't it be fun to have somebody closer to your age to play with who will be very much like you?" Lois asked, tipping her head away so that she see his face as well. Jason was thinking, still unsure what to make of it all.

"I guess," he said slowly.

"We've got a long time to talk about it before the babies come," Clark said, still smiling comfortingly. "They still have awhile to grow inside Mommy before they can come out." For a moment it looked like Jason might start asking uncomfortable questions, like how his little siblings had gotten in there in the first place, but, luckily, he seemed to be too wiped out from his day.

"Okay," he said quietly, hugging his mother goodnight, and then his dad.

"What do you think?" Clark asked, joining Lois on the couch for the news after Jason was tucked in.

"I think he was tired," Lois said after a moment. "Good thing, too… that could've gotten awkward."

"Yeah," Clark chuckled. "He'll be okay with it after he gets used to the idea, 'Lo," he assured her, pulling her closer and placing a kiss on her temple.

"I hope so."

- - -

Jason was more than okay with the idea of having a pair of younger siblings by the time Lois started showing, which wasn't too long after he'd found out about it. He organized and reorganized his toys into piles that he would be sharing with the babies, and piles that he would want to keep for himself.

"I can't go to work today, Clark," Lois firmly announced, coming out of their bedroom wearing sweatpants and one of his plaid shirts from the farm.

"What?" Clark said, looking up in surprise. He'd never expected to hear those words come out of Lois's mouth _ever_.

"Nothing fits, I can't go to work in _this_!"

"What do you mean nothing fits? It fit yesterday…?" Clark was confused. Jason was looking on with amusement, eating his Fruit Loops and smiling.

"It fit yesterday, but not _comfortably_," Lois said, sighing and joining her son at the table. "I'll just stay home with Jason today. We'll swing by the mall and buy some maternity stuff after lunch."

"Are you sure? I could call Perry, get the day off for both of us…?"

"No, Clark, who's going to cover the Governor Mansfeld case then?" He shrugged and she gave him a look. "_One _of us has to go in, and its certainly not going to be me."

"Okay," he said reluctantly. He liked having Lois at work with him, it meant he could keep an eye on her and make sure she sat down whenever she could, even if she hated it. "If you're sure, and you know I'm just a shout away, if you need anything…"

"Clark, we'll be fine," she smiled, pecking him on the lips as he tied his tie. "The worst that can happen is that awful Sarah Ricks will get a few pictures of me watching Jason at the park in a pair of sweatpants."

"We're going to the park?" Jason said, perking up.

"If you want to," Lois said, smiling. The park always got her son excited, there were always kids there to play with, and the sunshine revitalized him.

"Alright," Clark said, giving in. "But you call if you need _anything_, or if _anything_ happens. Jason," he said turning to his son and giving him a mock-serious face and getting a remarkably similar one in response, "you make sure your mother stays off her feet as much as possible, and _no heels_."

"Aye, aye," Jason said, saluting and getting a chuckle as his father grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

"Wait, you're not flying?" Lois asked, surprised.

"No," Clark sighed, obviously disappointed. "Sarah's already set up to snap a few shots of us for Georgianna."

"Ugh," Lois sighed. "Ever since she got those of you bringing Jason back from the Gallagher's that one afternoon…"

"It gave her the oomph she needed to keep tailing us," Clark agreed with a matching sigh.

"Maybe you should talk to her, you know," Lois suggested. "I bet Sarah, at least, would lay off if Superman said so."

"Yeah, but Georgianna would triple her efforts."

"Maybe we should go to Perry…"

"Georgianna would still triple her efforts."

"Not if she was busy looking for a job."

"Lois!"

"Well it would work!"

"I've got to go," Clark said, shaking his head. "I'll call you later."

"M'kay," Lois said, pecking him again before stepping back to let Jason give him a hug goodbye and closing the door behind him. "Okay, munchkin. What're we doing first?"

- - -

"Hey Chief, its Clark," Clark said into his phone as he exited the building. "Just wanted to let you know Lois won't be coming in today… No, she's fine, everything's fine; she just decided she outgrew her wardrobe... Yeah, she'll be in tomorrow, she's going shopping today… I know, Lois shopping, not two things that usually go together, eh?" He chuckled. "Great, see you in twenty… Yes, twenty… I'll explain later…. Okay, bye Chief."

Clark chuckled again hearing, "Don't call me Chief," muttered after the phone was shut. He hailed a cab, getting attention quickly because of his height. Sighing, he contorted himself to fit in the space before calling behind him to the woman who'd just caught a picture of him, "Miss Ricks, do you need a cab to the _Planet_? It would save on gas if we rode together."

"Oh, uh, no thanks Mr. Kent…" Sarah stuttered, thrown off, not having expected to be noticed. "I'm, um, working on something for Mr. White I need to get done down here… I'll see you at the _Planet_ later, though; thanks for the offer."

"Not a problem, have a nice morning," Clark said, smiling and shaking his head as he closed the door. "_Daily Planet_ building," Clark said to the driver and they took off. Clark listened back and heard Sarah calling for a taxi as soon as his was out of sight.

- - -

"KENT!" Perry's voice rang across the bullpen as soon as Clark sat down and turned on his computer. Stifling a chuckle because it would be out of character, Clark stood up, tripping over the wheel of his chair, and hurried to his boss' office.

"You wanted to see me Chief?" He asked in his usual office voice as the door closed, noticing a few pitying looks coming at him from the other side of the glass.

"You want to tell me why it took you twenty minutes to get here this morning? And I need that article you were working on yesterday afternoon."

"Well, it's a twenty minute cab ride from our apartment to the _Planet_, so that's what took twenty minutes, and I'll have the article for you as soon as I get a copy printed."

"_Why_ did you take a cab this morning?" Perry asked after accepting the excuse for the almost late story.

"Because Georgianna from PR has a photographer, Sarah Ricks, following Lois in hopes of getting to know Superman better," Clark sighed, massaging his temples in frustration. If he could get headaches, he would have one.

"Sarah Ricks? Isn't she that new hire from about a month ago?"

"Yeah," Clark nodded. "She doesn't know to be afraid of Lois yet," they both chuckled.

"I'll have a talk with both of them," Perry assured him. "Wouldn't want to trap Superman in a cab…"

"I'm more worried about Miss Ricks catching on," he sighed. "She's following 'Lo pretty closely, I'm surprised she hasn't noticed a few things."

"I'll talk to them after lunch… Miss Ricks has yet to come in today."

"That's because she's staking out the apartment."

"Jimmy sent her on assignment to the docks," Perry frowned. "I'll have him call her in, if she doesn't have a few decent pictures of those new military boats… Well, that'll be a good reason to get her off your tail right there," he growled and Clark shifted uncomfortably; he didn't want Sarah to lose her job, he just wanted her to stop following Lois.

"Well, Chief, if you can get her to stop following Lois without firing her, that'd be great."

"You really are a boy scout, Kent," Perry chuckled, shooing him out of the office to print off the article.

- - -

Clark ended up staying late, covering for Lois in her new assistant editor position by sticking around to help Perry with the final layouts. He sighed; it was taking even longer than usual because the world was having issues this evening. He'd had to fly off every half hour or so when he was typing up his article that afternoon, and it had only gotten worse as the day wore on. He hadn't gotten lunch or dinner, luckily he didn't really _need_ either, and Perry was running on coffee fumes after the cappuccino machine had broken. So Superman was stuck with a irritated editor-in-chief, an empty stomach, and a loud ringing in his ears that would've been a splitting stress headache if he could feel pain while he tried to get all the text for an article to fit onto the page without taking up room reserved for the ads.

"Finally," he sighed, leaning back and stretching, his flight capabilities the only thing keeping him from tipping over in his chair.

"What a night," Perry sighed, clicking the button that sent everything to print and stretching as well.

"You're telling me," Clark muttered under his breath. The pair of them exchanged pleasantries before leaving in their own ways.

Lois was pacing when he got home, looking out at the balcony window worriedly every few seconds.

"Lois, what's the matter?"

"Where have you been?" She asked, practically running over to hug him as soon as he landed.

"At work," he said, surprised.

"I was worried- your phone was off."

"It was a busy night," he sighed. "Everybody needed Superman and I was helping Perry with layout."

"That's what I thought, but," she laughed at herself, pecking his cheek lightly before turning to warm him up some dinner, "damn hormones, I couldn't stop worrying."

"You sure you're okay?" Clark asked as they sat at the table, him eating the macaroni and cheese she'd made for dinner while she had a cup of hot chocolate, her coffee replacement during her pregnancy.

"I'm fine," she said, smiling. "It was just kind of one of those days."

"How do you mean?"

"Sarah Ricks," she sighed and Clark's face darkened. "She followed us to the park, not too subtly either. She could make quite a photo album of our day… and then she just disappeared right after lunch, it kind of freaked me out."

"Perry had Jimmy call her in," Clark said. "She was supposed to be getting pictures at the harbor of those new military cruisers that'll be heading out to open water next week. She didn't have any and I'd talked to him about her following you earlier, so…"

"Did he fire her?" She asked hopefully.

"No," Clark shook his head and Lois frowned. "No, she ratted on Georgianna, so Georgianna was fired and Sarah took a pay decrease and a probationary period of sorts."

"That's good, I suppose."

"Hopefully," Clark shrugged. "I just hope Georgianna doesn't keep after you herself now that she's got all the free time for it."

"I doubt it; like we said earlier, she'll be too busy looking for a new job."

"Ah, but an inside with Superman would be the scoop of her career."

"Yes, well, Superman must continue to hold his wife's career in mind," Lois chuckled. "Just think of what the world would say if you gave an interview to somebody else. Especially after that article last summer about how you trust me and the _Planet_ and all that."

"Well, you _did_ marry another man. Maybe Superman is jealous."

"You're referring to yourself in the third person and talking about being jealous of yourself, Clark," she said, narrowing her eyes at him from across the table. He just chuckled.

"And it won't be the first time we question my sanity, either," she smirked at him. "So your day was pleasant other than Sarah? How was Jason?" He glanced through Jason's door and was glad to see the boy sleeping peacefully,

"He was okay. He kept coming up with baby names," she smiled. "He's started a list."

"Really?" Lois nodded, getting up and going to the coffee table where Jason's drawings and drawing materials were spread out from the relaxed afternoon.

- - -

Lois groaned and rolled over again, moving so that the little feet were no longer massaging her husband's lower back, making him roll over as well.

"You okay?" Clark asked, pity evident in his sleepy voice. Lois just grunted in response. She was now seven months pregnant. The two sets of feet inside her seemed to know that Daddy was nearby and were trying to give him the back massage he'd just received, unfortunately, the back massage also came with a tap dance on the underside of Mommy's liver, which wasn't nearly as pleasant.

Lois had been ordered to take it easy by her doctors. The twins were developing normally, if slightly faster than normal human children, meaning Lois looked and felt closer to eight months pregnant with twins. She had to pee constantly, she couldn't stand for more than five minutes without getting sore feet, she couldn't sit for more than ten minutes without her back aching, she couldn't lie in the same position for more than a half an hour before the twins got bored and started kicking to get her moving again. Perry had forced her to go on maternity leave when she'd started vocalizing her discomfort. Of course, she was talking to Clark because it was his fault she was so uncomfortable, but the rest of the office could hear it too. Clark was completely unaffected by Lois's complaints, he was too excited for the approaching due date. He would rub her feet, massage her back, console her, and never complain once.

Jason seemed excited too, especially now that he could really see that there were little people growing inside his Mommy's tummy. He'd had a long talk with his father about not peeking using x-ray vision, which he'd learned to control during the first sixth months of his mother's pregnancy, though the walls did still fade out from time to time. His hearing was still iffy, sometimes it was there and sometimes it wasn't; luckily, he had no trouble controlling it when it showed up. His list of names for the babies had made its way from the single sheet of paper to an almost full notebook. Every name he came across was written down in the little book, he spent his evenings re-reading it and crossing off names he decided he didn't like.

"I'm just peachy," Lois said, rolling out of bed and grabbing her robe.

"Where're you going?" Clark asked, propping himself up on his elbow to watch her silhouette.

"I've gotta freaking pee again," she mumbled, cursing loudly when her foot caught on one of the cardboard boxes that filled the apartment; they would be moving in the morning. Clark chuckled, getting out of bed and catching her elbow to steady her as she rubbed at the offended foot.

"You okay?"

She mumbled something about idiot husbands who couldn't even stub their toes properly at him and closed herself in the bathroom. Clark chuckled again and settled on the couch to wait for her.

Twenty minutes seemed to pass after they'd both climbed back in bed when morning arrived, bringing loud knocking on the front door, signaling the arrival of the movers.

"Time to wake up, Mrs. Kent," Clark said.

"Why is it that the only time the twins seem to want to sleep is _right_ when I need to wake up?" She asked him, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

"Because they _know_," he said, still smiling at her. She sighed and kissed his lips gently, making her way to the bathroom again as he pulled on his robe and glasses to answer the door. Jason was already sitting at the kitchen table, kicking his legs and revising his list of names.


	29. Chapter 29

**- - - Chapter Twenty-Nine**

Clark looked over the new house, surprised at how quickly they'd settled. Of course, they'd had his advantageous fleetness when it came to unpacking, but it had been less than a week and the house looked like they'd been living in it for months.

It was a two story house, nothing particularly amazing to look at from the outside. Light blue siding, black shutters, black roof with a chimney at one end. The kitchen, dining room, and family room with the fireplace were on the main level, the kitchen having a sliding glass door that led out to the backyard and a small patio. Upstairs held the three bedrooms. The master bedroom was closest to the stairs and had a small balcony that looked out over the backyard; the other rooms were all about the same size and spread out over the rest of the level. Jason had his own room, the ceiling already decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars, the walls dark blue and covered with his drawings of superheroes. The twins would share the other room, there were plans for bunk beds, but for now it was a nursery with a diaper changing station, a rocking chair, and two cradles. The backyard was immense and surrounded by a tall privacy fence; there were no neighbors behind the house, and the houses to either side were a fair distance away. Far enough so that Superman could land in the small grove of trees behind the swing set without drawing attention to himself. The front yard was smaller, and without a fence, with a small garden near the house.

They had chosen the neighborhood specifically; there were lots of kids Jason's age that went to his school in the neighborhood, not the Gallaghers, but other families. The house wasn't nearly as close as the apartment had been to the _Daily Planet_ building, but they didn't exactly have to deal with morning rush hour. The neighbors had watched out their windows as they unpacked and got settled, wives dragging their husbands over to say hello the second afternoon.

The Thomas' lived on the left, the Garretts on the right; the Petersons were directly across the street. The Thomas family consisted of Gale and Jim in their mid-forties with their teenage children, Jack (19), Serena (15), and Joe (12). The Garrett family was headed by a single father, Conrad, and his three triplet sons, Octavian, Quentin, and Martin (7). Steve and Julie Peterson were in their sixties, but the children in the neighborhood all seemed to congregate there for Julie's cooking. Clark couldn't help but think of his mother when he saw her, though Steve reminded him more of a slightly less harsh Mr. Wilson from Denis the Menace than anybody else. The neighborhood was packed with children of all ages, and Clark couldn't quite pinpoint who belonged to who, or where any of them other than the closest lived.

Laughing to himself, Clark entered the house again, locking the door securely behind him. There was something about owning a real house where he would be raising his family that made him happy. He felt secure in his life, even if the world seemed to be going nuts lately. He'd even been in contact with the other members of the Justice League recently, and they were all coming over for a house warming party of sorts. They'd bring their families and, hopefully, have a nice evening together.

"Where did you go off to?" Lois asked when she noticed him. She was trying to orientate herself in the new kitchen despite the fact that Clark was the one to do most the cooking.

"I just got off the phone with Batman," he said honestly, holding up the cell phone he had been talking on while he watched his house.

"And?"

"And they're all coming over Friday night."

"Friday night! That's in two days!"

"Yep."

"But… that's in two days!"

"I know," he said chuckling. "Luckily, we just moved in and there isn't any mess that we need to worry about."

"What about all the boxes? We can't have the superheroes of the world showing up when we've got a load of cardboard leftovers laying in the backyard!"

"Lois, relax," he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "I'll take care of the boxes in the morning."

"You better," she mumbled, the fight going out of her.

"Hey, I don't lie, remember?"

"No, you just emit like hell," she quipped back, making him chuckle.

"True."

- - -

Perry and Jimmy came to say hello Thursday afternoon, bringing small housewarming gifts. Perry brought a bottle of wine, making them promise not to drink it until after the twins were born, and Jimmy had put together a photo album from various pictures he's taken of them throughout the years. Lois, with her heightened hormonal levels, burst into tears when she saw the pictures and hugged Jimmy, alarming him considerably.

"What just happened?" He asked Clark when Lois went into the bathroom to clean up.

"Hormones," Clark replied, shrugging.

"If you say so."

"Well, she's certainly not usually that emotional," Clark reminded the young photographer.

"This is true," Jimmy smiled back and settled onto their brand new overstuffed couch. Lois joined them a moment later looking like nothing had happened. She sat down next to Jimmy and hopped up barely a minute later to pace the room in her uncomfortable waddle.

"Lois, sit down," Clark said, worried.

"I can't sit down," she shook her head and waddled across the room again. "I can't believe you invited them all over tomorrow… did you get rid of the cardboard?"

"Yes," Clark assured her, standing up and guiding her back to the couch.

"Who did you invite over?" Jimmy asked, feeling left out.

"The freaking Justice League," Lois muttered.

"The Justice League?" Perry asked, looking between the pair of them. Clark was chuckling softly and Lois was looking annoyed.

"I don't see why they couldn't wait until _after_ the twins are born," she sighed, getting up to pace again. "I'm a blimp."

"You're not a blimp," Clark assured her patiently.

"Mommy, your heartbeat is going crazy," Jason told her from the table where he was working on his list, illuminating the pages with simple drawings of baby brothers and sisters. Lois sighed again, glaring at Clark again.

"This is all your fault," she sighed, resuming her marching.

"He's right, though," Clark sounded worried. "Your heart is racing, Lois. You should be sitting down."

Lois glared at him and didn't sit down while Perry and Jimmy just shook their heads. "So what's this Justice League?" Perry asked again.

"You tell them, I have to pee," Lois said, trundling to the bathroom.

"It's a group the Green Arrow started," Clark said cautiously. "A base of operations where we can talk to each other, organize some sort of schedule."

"Like a superhero club?" Jimmy suggested.

"Sure," Clark shrugged. "It's like for our honeymoon, Batman covered Metropolis. Green Arrow's youngest had the flu a couple of months ago so Flash and I split the time in Star City- stuff like that."

"Do you all know each others' 'secret identities,' then?" Perry asked, his eyes glowing with excitement.

"Yes," Clark said carefully. "And no, I'm not going to give any away."

"Damn," Perry sighed, leaning back on the couch while Clark chuckled lightly.

- - -

Jason already seemed to know all the kids in the neighborhood kids by Friday afternoon. Of course, it would be a whole new deal when everybody peeled off the layers of snowsuits to actually look at each others' faces. He didn't find it as difficult to hide his random bursts of super-strength, the x-ray vision that still sometimes flared up, or the incredible hearing that was becoming more and more consistent when he was relaxing with the other kids in a snowbank.

"Jason!" His mother's voice was clear as day from the other end of the block. He sighed in his snowbank, abandoning his position and ducking when a few snowballs flew his way.

"Jason, where're you going?" Tasha from down the block asked from where she had been sitting beside him. They were on the same team for the snowball fight and they, so far, had been winning.

"I've got to go home, my dad's friends are coming over for dinner tonight," he was excited for this party to say the least. He would be meeting the Green Arrow, Batman… not to mention their kids, some of whom were his age.

Lois, on the other, hand wasn't looking forward to it nearly as much as her son. She had watched Clark prepare an incredible amount of food and sweep the hardwood floors in the kitchen and dining room, whistling all the while. After that was finished, she'd changed clothes three times before calling Jason in from his snowball fight. She'd settled on a peasant-style green top, and nice, black maternity pants. She promised herself not to fidget all night, but knew it was probably hopeless.

"You sure you won't even give me a hint at who we really have coming for dinner?" She asked again, wishing he would just tell her their secret identities so she would know what to expect. Clark's lips twitched into a mischievous smirk.

"Sorry, honey," he pressed his lips to her temple. "They want to see the look on your face."

"But…"

"It'll be fine Lois, you'll love them, I think," he smirked again. "They're all coming in… an hour, and their families will be here shortly after that."

"See, I would be more comfortable if they just arrived all together!"

"You'll be fine, 'Lo, stop worrying."

"You can't make me, and you know it."

Clark just laughed lightly before going to help Jason out of his snow stuff.

Lois checked them over and over again as five o'clock approached. Jason was in nice gray slacks and a light shirt, Clark was in the light jeans and white button-up he favored when he had to look sort of nice outside of work. She had changed her shoes about five times, but was still in the green top and black bottoms.

"Bart's here," Clark said suddenly, shutting off the TV and smiling when Lois hopped to her feet and stared nervously as the door.

"Bart?" Clark just nodded and crossed to the door.

"Hey Bart," he said opening the door. Of course, Bart didn't stay at the door long, superspeeding inside and holding his hand out to a startled looking Lois.

"Hullo, Mrs. Kent," he said with a wide grin.

"Bart," Clark said sharply behind him. "Slow down."

"Yeah, why do you have so many loose objects, anyways?"

"Just moved in?"

"You're excused, then."

"Right," Clark cleared his throat and rolled his eyes. "Lois, this is Bart Allen; Bart, this is Lois."

"Nice to meet you," Bart said, this time with a charming smile. "I love your work."

"Thanks," Lois said, smiling back as she shook his hand. "So…?"

"I'm the Flash," Bart said, knowing where she was going.

"That's good to know, but, actually, I was going to ask if you wanted something to drink," Lois said with a smirk. Bart didn't even blush, just nodded.

"Sure, what've you got?"

They were just settling down on the couch to talk with the guest when the doorbell rang, startling all but Clark. "Jeez, coulda warned us there, buddy," Bart said, glaring at Clark as he got up to get the door.

"Sorry," Clark said, shrugging. "Bruce, glad you could make it!"

"Me too," Bruce Wayne said with a suave smile. Behind him, a limo pulled out of the driveway with Alfred at the wheel, leaving to pick up the billionaire's family at the helipad.

"Bruce Wayne?" Lois gulped out when she saw the billionaire playboy walk calmly through the front door. He and Clark were chatting quietly about somebody named Johns and Diana and how they wouldn't be making it because they were busy at the Watchtower.

"Mrs. Kent," Bruce said, giving the same self-assured smile that was plastered in the tabloids at the supermarkets. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah…" Lois was confused. She'd badgered the man for years about getting an interview, even sending Clark after him in the early years, and had no such luck. And now it turns out he and Clark are secret members of the superhero society?

"Lois, Batman, Batman, Lois," Bart said unceremoniously, watching Lois' face with amusement.

"Bart," Clark and Bruce sighed at the same time, making Bart's smile grow wider.

"What? It's what you came here to tell her," he said, holding his hands out palms up.

Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, and Arthur Curry, Aquaman, arrived together, Ollie complaining about having to forcefully drag AC away from his marine studies in the Gulf of Mexico.

"I'm sorry if I identify with fish," AC said curtly after Bart joined up in the torment.

"Hey, we're not blaming you; we're just making fun of you," Bart clarified and got another look from AC. Bruce and Clark chuckled and got no sympathy from the other men in the room.

Jason, who had been standing in the doorway watching, his face frozen in something resembling awe, finally came into the room to stand next to his mother, who was finally getting over some of her initial shock. She'd taken a seat after Bruce had arrived because, like it or not, her feet just couldn't handle being stood upon for much longer.

"Hey, your name's Jason, right?" Bruce asked, noticing the suddenly shy boy when he came into the room. Jason nodded. "And you're six?"

"Almost seven," Jason said a little proudly. Batman chuckled softly.

"I have a daughter who is almost eight," he said knowingly; Helena talked about her upcoming birthday nonstop, still at the time in life where one looks forward to gaining another year.

"Really?"

"Really really," Bruce replied, getting a smile from Jason at the reference to Shrek.

"What's her name?"

"Helena. You'll meet her when she comes with her mom later."

"Really?"

"Really really," he said again. Jason smiled back.

"So, J'onzz and Diana weren't coming, right?" Ollie asked a few minutes later. They'd all taken a moment to talk with Jason, telling the boy about their children and making him a lot more comfortable around them.

"Right," Bruce replied.

"Diana said something about a wedding anniversary, and J'onzz is at the Watchtower," Bart supplied.

"When isn't he?" Ollie asked, rolling his eyes.

"And I believe its their eighth wedding anniversary, Bart," Bruce said with a raised eyebrow. "And you know you sent them that hideous flower arrangement."

"How would you know?"

"Because Diana asked me if she could kill you."

"Oh, well, thanks for the negative response on that."

"I didn't respond negatively, I just reminded her that you're allergic to-" Bruce was cut off by a knock at the door. Still glaring at Batman, Bart sped over and opened it wide.

"Eliza, how're you doing?" He said with a charming smile as Eliza Queen and her three children walked through the door. Eliza looked cool and collected, smiling warmly at her husband before her eyes settled on Lois and Jason, who were still standing together by the chair as though they needed to keep close to have strength in their numbers.

"I'm great, Bart, how're you?"

"Excellent, excellent," he smiled and closed the door.

"Lois, this is Eliza Queen," Clark said, stepping forward. Lois smiled at the tall blond woman less nervously than she had at Oliver, and held out a hand to shake.

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you," Eliza said with an odd twinkle in her eye, glancing at Clark. "We were wondering how long it would be before you joined our little club," they both chuckled, Eliza more comfortably than Lois.

"Well…" Lois said, failing to find anything to say. "Yeah," behind Eliza, Clark looked embarrassed though he wasn't quite blushing.

"And this is Michael, Erica, and Daniel," Eliza continued, pointing to her children in turn. Michael was a tall sandy blond teenage boy who looked like a miniature version of his father; Erica could be classified as a pre-teen and looked more like her mother than seemed reasonable. The youngest, Daniel, wasn't particularly tall yet and had springy gold curls on top of his head, but it was his eyes that caught the attention; like his father, he had probing hazel eyes, his brother and sister's eyes were darker like their mother's. Michael nodded when he was pointed to, but the others each gave a wave.

"And this is Jason," Lois said, turning behind her and pulling Jason around. Jason smiled nervously at the other children, who seemed extremely relieved to see that he was just a normal-looking kid and wasn't hovering near the ceiling or anything.

Bruce's family arrived a moment later. Selena, formerly Catwoman, was short and extremely thin; if her daughter weren't standing right next to her Lois wouldn't have believed the woman had ever been with child. Mother and daughter looked very much alike, both with dark hair and eyes that had a cat-like turn to them at the corners. Selena barely made a sound when she walked, and it freaked Lois out by the end of the evening, but Helena was by far the loudest kid of the bunch. The young girl had her father's stubborn chin, and her mother's small frame; she'd be a force to be reckoned with when she was older.

"You have no idea how nice it is to finally meet you," Selena said when the three wives were finally alone.

"Oh?" Lois asked with polite curiosity. Not only did Selena have a strange vibe to go along with her history, Lois was very pregnant and getting tired.

"Clark and Bruce are rather close, and he used to talk about you all the time," she smiled warmly, her face seeming entirely different and relaxed with the simple gesture. "All good, I assure you."

"Well, that's nice to hear," Lois chuckled.

"Just know that we're here to talk to," Eliza assured her a few minutes later. "It's hard to live with a guy who has to run out to save strangers all the time; we can commiserate. Diana joins us sometimes, too, gives us a woman's perspective on the superhero business."

"I'm assuming Diana is Wonder Woman?" Lois asked, they'd been talking about Diana all night and she hadn't really had her suspicions confirmed.

"Yes, Diana Prince, she's lovely," Eliza said with another brilliant smile. Lois caught herself shaking her head. Sitting across from her were two of the most incompatible women she'd ever met, add herself to the mix and they made quite a trio. One former catburglar, a diplomat's daughter turned billionaire's wife, and the street-wise Pulitzer-winning reporter. Selena was dark and crafty where Eliza was light and almost bubbly, leaving Lois to be the cynic.

- - -

"How do you think she's taking this?" Bruce asked Clark when they had a moment alone in the backyard, enjoying the peacefulness of the snow falling. Bruce could ignore the cold for the few minutes they'd be out there, and it certainly didn't bother Clark.

"She's been nervous about meeting everybody all week," he shrugged. "She'll be glad when the evening is over and she can slip into a more casual acquaintanceship with everybody."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's pregnant and she's putting on a dinner party for a bunch of superheroes, half of whom turn out to be prominent public figureheads she's been moaning about getting interviews with for years," he chuckled. "She'll yell at me about that later."

"I suppose I'm more used to dinner parties than you, eh?" Bruce asked lightly, going on his toes to get a glimpse over the privacy fence from where he was standing.

"Much," Clark agreed.

"I'll hand it to you, she's quite a cook," Bruce said, and Clark grinned wider.

"Actually, I cooked," he chuckled. "If Lois had we would've had to find a restaurant while they put out the fire."

"Same thing with Selena, honestly," Bruce smiled. "It's a good thing we've got Alfred."

"How is Mr. Pennyworth these days?"

"He's quite good, actually," Bruce said with a decisive nod. "Getting older, but that's the way it goes."

"Good to hear," Clark said a little sadly, not wanting to think about friends and family aging. "Say hello to him for me, will you?"

"Of course, and how is your mother doing? Is she still on the farm?"

"Yep, on the farm and doing well," he said, bouncing on his heels a little. "She's hired a group to work the land and take care of the animals; she's doing very well."

"Good," Bruce smiled, his friend could talk about his mother and Smallville for hours if he was let.

"You guys planning on staying out there all night, or do we get dessert?" Ollie asked, joining them for a moment.

"There's dessert?" Clark asked, not remembering having made anything.

"Bart ran and got one of those Dairy Queen ice cream cakes; the kids asked him to," he sighed. "He's a sucker like that."

"He's got to get his own kids so he can stop spoiling ours," Bruce sighed; Bart had taken a special liking to Helena after she'd broken her arm while he was babysitting and catered to her every whim whenever he was around. Bruce couldn't tell if he felt sorry for letting it happen, or was just wowed by the cuteness that the little girl possessed.

"That'll be the day," Clark replied. Bart didn't like to be tied down; he liked to run for days without anybody worrying about him so long as he called in to work every now and then.

- - -

"So, what did you think?" Clark asked as he moved around the kitchen, tidying things up while Lois unloaded the very full dishwasher.

"Eliza was nice," she said, smiling at the thought of the other woman. "Selena was kind of creepy, though."

"Yes, she can be."

"She was being creepy on purpose?"

"I think she'll be like that until she gets a feel for you," he said with a shrug. "It took her about five years before she warmed up to me," he gave a shiver. "I'm _invulnerable_ and I didn't want to be left in a room alone with her," they both chuckled.

"Helena is a sweet girl, though."

"Jason seemed to like her too."

"Which is good; I got the impression that you and Bruce are close."

"We are, I guess," Clark shrugged. "I've known Ollie longer, but Bruce and I get along better."

"Which doesn't make sense," Lois smiled. Ollie had come across as a genuinely nice guy, while Bruce had an odd edge to him.

"Ollie… he's got that whole Robin Hood thing going on, and I'm not one for stealing even if he's giving it to those who need it more. Bruce is all about intimidation, and though I don't like his use of unnecessary force sometimes, I get it."

"You are a very unique person, Clark Kent," Lois sighed, wrapping her arms around him. They stood there, looking into each others' eyes and feeling the babies move between them. One gave a hard kick and Clark smiled, but Lois just grunted.

"How much longer, again?"

"Only a few weeks."

"Easy for you to say."

"True," he said with a sympathetic smile and rested her head against his chest. They swayed softly to the music in their heads for a moment before realizing they had an audience.

"I don't feel good," Jason said, and he didn't look like he felt good. He had dark circles under his eyes and he was pale.

"What's the matter, sweety?" Lois asked, pulling away from Clark to get a better look at the boy in the doorway.

"I dunno, I just don't feel good," he repeated, walking over and climbing onto the nearest chair.

"How about I take you up to see the sun, see if that helps?" Clark asked, worrying about what could've made Jason sick. His invulnerability was touch and go, sometimes there, sometimes not. He could've caught something at school, or from being outside all day, or from all the different kids he'd played with today, or it could be some strange Kryptonian thing that could become very serious.

"Okay," Jason said, the usual enthusiasm wasn't in his voice but he was smiling.

"Grab your coat," Clark reminded him. Jason sighed, grabbed the coat and stuck his feet in his boots and walked up to his father. Clark chuckled, bent down and tied the boots before taking his son in his arms, already dressed as Superman. "Ready?"

"Yep."

"We'll be back in a few minutes, then," he said, turning to Lois. She smiled at them, worry for her son creasing her features, but Jason's eager, though uncomfortable, smile seemed to ease her heart a bit.

"Okay," she replied, pecking Jason on the cheek and giving Clark a quick kiss on the lips.

Clark slid the glass door closed behind him and walked out onto the patio of sorts, glancing over at and x-raying the surrounding yards for potential viewers. Finding none, he took off into the skies at a speed quicker than he'd take Lois up, but slower than he usually ascended. Jason's face was alight with excitement; no matter how bad he felt he loved to fly just as much as his dad.

They traveled above the clouds, chasing the sunset. Jason was amazed to see a sunrise as they neared the daylight side of the planet. Clark chuckled at his wonderment, and began telling him little useless facts about the pollution in the atmosphere causing the colorful display, and stories about this or that time when he'd seen a similar view.

Jason was feeling much better by the time they were hovering over China. "Hey, is that the Great Wall of China?" Jason asked, looking over his father's shoulder.

"Yes it is," Clark said with a smile. Whatever Jason had been feeling was gone and he was eagerly tracing the contours of the wall with his eyes.

"That's so cool."

"Yes it is," Clark agreed again, getting a look from his son. "Well it is."

"Will you take me past the Eiffel Tower on the way home?"

"Sure, are you ready to go home now?"

"I think so," Jason said, looking introspective for a moment. "I guess," he yawned.

"We'll go, then… it'll be okay if you fall asleep on the way."

"I can't fall asleep up here though, it's too quiet," Clark laughed outright at that. He'd spent years as a child trying to figure out why everything was so loud on a secluded farm, how the mole by the new fence could be the thing keeping him up at night, and now Jason was finding it hard to relax without that constant annoyance.

"Here we go, then."

He flew slowly, wanting to spend as much time as he could close to his son. He'd spent all evening with him and it still didn't feel like enough time. He could spend an eternity just floating above his adopted planet with his son examining the ever changing horizon beyond.

"Dad, what's that?" Jason asked as they approached Metropolis.

"What?" Clark asked, looking around to try and find what Jason was seeing.

"That," Jason pointed and the air wooshed from Clark's lungs.

"That's an awfully big chunk of New Krypton," Clark said a little shakily.

Above them, huge chunks of rock-encased kryptonite from New Krypton were barreling towards the Earth. Space had absorbed the sound of the explosion, or the crack that had caused these chunks to separate, but they had, and now Clark barely had time to react before they entered the atmosphere.

**Just to make it clear- the Justice League isn't a group the public knows about. It's just something the superdudes put together for themselves so that the world is covered, say, when Ollie catches the flu, or Bruce needs a night to actually sleep. The public knows about them as individuals, but most have no idea that they know each other any more intimately than the rest of the world.**


	30. Chapter 30

**- - - Chapter Thirty**

Clark wrapped Jason in his cape and dropped from the sky. In his arms, Jason gave a little yelp when his stomach jumped from its usual place to his throat, but he would be a fan of rollercoasters when he was older.

"Do you have to catch it again, Dad?" He asked, still looking up through the clouds at the falling rock.

"Yes," Clark said, unable to keep the nervousness out of his voice. The very slight quiver made Jason nervous, and his little face clouded with worry.

"What's the matter?" Lois asked, throwing the sliding door open and running out onto the patio when she saw them back and the looks on their faces.

"New Krypton is falling," Clark said simply, his face dark as he handed Jason over.

"What?"

"I have to catch it," he looked up into the sky where his son's eyes were still trained. "Lois, this could turn out a lot like last time," her face paled and he put a tender hand on her cheek. "Don't worry about me; the coma is a natural part of the healing process. There's nothing to worry about unless it lasts more than a week or so."

"A week or so! Clark…" she bit her lip, holding Jason to her.

"It'll be okay, Lois- J'onzz will pick them up soon and he'll send somebody to help."

"Why didn't they come last time?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "It'll be okay," he kissed her, getting an annoyed look from Jason who was tucked under his mother's chin and still looking up. He gave Jason a kiss on the forehead before taking off.

"He'll be okay," Lois muttered to her son as well as to herself. She stood out on the patio, clutching Jason to her, both of them looking up into the darkness. She couldn't see a thing, but Jason could see everything.

- - -

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Richard looked at his door, willing the person on the other side to think he was asleep and go away.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

He sat there, still waiting, the TV muted.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

_So much for that_, he thought, getting up and opening the door so far as the chain would allow. It took him a moment to place the face on the other side of the door; he hadn't seen anybody from the _Daily Planet_ since the day he had left over a year ago.

"Georgianna?" He asked, thanking his predisposition to hang onto names and faces but completely unable to find her last name or what she would be doing in California banging on his apartment door at eleven o'clock at night.

"Mr. White, I'm sorry to come over unannounced like this, I know we don't know each other very well," _At all_, Richard kept to himself, trying to come up with any scrap of information he could on the woman standing in a pea coat and knit hat on his doorstep. She worked in Public Relations at the _Planet_ and she annoyed Lois a lot. That's all he had.

"Georgianna… what're you doing here?" He asked after zoning out on whatever she'd been saying. She stopped talking for a moment, staring at him like she was gathering her thoughts before reaching into her overlarge purse and pulling out a manilla file folder.

"I have some information about a certain someone that you might want to see."

"A certain someone?" He asked, not willing to take the chain off just yet. Instead of answering, Georgianna opened the file and pulled out a single glossy 8 X 10 print and held it up for him to see. His eyes went wide and he slammed the door shut, taking the chain off and throwing the door open again so the plump woman on the other side could come in.

- - -

Lois couldn't see anything above her, so she settled on watching her son's face. Jason was watching the sky with more than a little worry. He could see his father approaching the meteors as they fell into the atmosphere. The chunks were still growing, they kept their size as they fell came through the atmosphere; burning off a good deal of their mass as they came through the atmosphere, but they were still present, still made mostly of kryptonite, and still coming. Superman was waiting in the stratosphere, using heat vision to burn off the smaller meteors before they got too far.

Lois gasped when a huge falling mass came into view. Clark was soon behind it, grabbing what he could of the regular rock and straining against gravity's pull. She couldn't see his face, just a dark silhouette of a man in a flapping cape pulling on something ten times his size and winning. Superman managed to throw that meteor back up, slamming into another larger piece of New Krypton. Smaller chunks rained down on him, and he darted away to avoid the kryptonite that would send him falling from the skies.

The neighbors were awake now, as was most of the rest of Metropolis. Fireballs falling from the sky tended to do that. Lois could see a few of the neighbors over the fence when she followed one of the meteors wit her eyes and ended up looking over at the driveway. They were looking at her like she would have the answers about why this was happening, but she was just as clueless as them, and even more worried.

"Its pieces of New Krypton," Jason told her, seeing his mother's face.

"What?"

"It blew up in space, or something, and now its falling back down on us," he said, looking back up at the sky. "It's going to get worse, too."

And it did. It took three hours, bringing them well past midnight, but the falling meteors got bigger and more riddled with kryptonite. Batman and the Martian Manhunter had appeared on the scene shortly after Lois had brought Jason with her to the _Daily Planet_ building, where Perry was still working on the next day's edition. Batman was focusing on the damage being done to the city by the meteors that made it past his two flying companions. Clark couldn't get very close to the meteors, there was a very thin layer of harmless rock between him and the kryptonite and it wasn't enough. He'd reverted to blasts of heat vision from afar, blowing the meteors into smaller chunks that J'onzz could control more easily or would cause less damage when they crashed into buildings.

In the bullpen, Jason was watching everything through the walls and on the television screens. Nervous newscasters had more questions than answers, and only seemed to make the growing panic worse. When Lois and Jason had arrived, the _Planet_ had been all but empty, but as the night got wilder more reporters trickled in, hoping for more information and a measure of safety; Superman trusted the _Planet_, so he'd protect them there, right? Lois felt a bit guilty for leaving the house, knowing Clark would think they were safe there, but she didn't really care at the moment. Clark was right outside her office window staring at a falling meteorite until it glowed slightly and broke apart.

She sat in the chair staring at him, hovering there. Hovering wasn't a new thing. He did it to reach things on the top shelves when he didn't feel like reaching; sometimes he did it when he fell into a really deep sleep without meaning to, or when they kissed. It was different to see him hovering outside the window concentrating on incinerating the one substance that could kill him than when he floated a bit to get the peanut butter for her. Jason was watching too, sitting on her desk next to her computer that she wasn't planning on turning on tonight.

- - -

The kryptonite falling from the sky was doing nothing for Clark at all. Its presence was giving him a headache as he continued to use heat vision, and he had several small knicks where debris had hit him; his invulnerability was all but shot from exposure.

He knew he was hovering outside the _Daily Planet_ bullpen, and he knew Lois and Jason were watching him, but he couldn't take the time to look at them because it would be seconds he wasn't using heat vision to solve the problem and keep them safe. He could feel Perry's eyes on him from the next office over, too; then there were all the reporters that had shown up in the bullpen who were looking through the glass walls of the offices to see him at work.

The sound of a familiar voice calling out to him caught his attention. The strange thing was that the person, a woman, was calling out for Clark, not Superman, and it was coming from somewhere nearby and high in the sky. Clark tuned into the voice; it was his mother, and she was on a plane.

He was off in a second, leaving J'onzz and Lois behind to watch with curiosity until he was out of sight and the falling meteors flooded their vision again. In front of him, a troubled plain trying to get out of Metropolis airspace came into view. One wing was missing and the tail was damaged, it was spiraling down towards the airport as though the metal that made up the flying machine knew where it was supposed to land and was trying to return there.

Clark dove from the height he had accomplished while searching for the plain and grabbed hold of what was left of the tail. The metal groaned as it slowed, and he heard several relieved breaths from inside the plain as the passengers realized Superman was intervening. Clark peered through the plane and found his mother in first class, sitting with the yellow mask strapped to her face, her hands gripping the arm rests like they were her life line. He knew she didn't like flying, even with him when _nothing _could go wrong.

_What are you doing on this plane, Mom?_ He asked himself, but didn't dwell on it. No matter what the reason, she was on the plane and the plane was trying its best to crash.

Time slowed as they neared the pavement of the nearest runway. Clark couldn't go any faster or he would damage plane and passengers though he desperately wanted to get back to the chunks of kryptonite falling onto the city. Well, not desperately, but he felt guilty for being away from the fray.

Like he had upon his return, he pulled the door off its hinges and let the yellow evacuation slide drop to the ground as he stepped inside. "Is everyone alright?" He asked, eyes only for his mother. There were murmurs of 'yes,' and 'thank you, Superman,' but Clark didn't leave until he saw his mother nod weakly. With a burst of superspeed, he set a note on her lap with the new house number and instructions where to find the spare key before he leapt back into the sky. Nobody had seen him move into the plane, but those around Martha had felt the rush of wind. Martha slipped the paper into her pocket before anybody noticed.

J'onzz was flying above, holding one of the medium-ish sized meteors above his head and slowly brining it down to the ground when Clark returned to the downtown area, where the meteor were falling most thickly. Batman would remove it later, as he would be doing with those that fell into the ocean, and those would be the ones that would be growing exponentially as soon as they touched the surface. The red glowing of J'onzz's eyes cast a strange glow on the green rock above him. Looking past the Martian, Clark saw the biggest meteor of the lot hurtling straight toward the globe atop the _Planet_; it was probably half the continent he had lifted into the sky all those months ago. J'onzz saw it too and looked straight at him, eyes flashing a more intense red for a moment. His descent quickened but Clark was already headed toward the meteor, looking for anything to put between himself and the kryptonite.

The hood of a car lying a few feet away from the actual car caught his eye. It wasn't very thick, but it was something and it was big enough so that he could spread his hands out for better support. He dove down to the street and grabbed the hood before soaring back up towards the meteor. There was at least four feet of rock between his hands and the raw kryptonite, and the hood helped, but he could certainly feel it. This meteor would be too big for J'onzz to handle and it would do an extreme amount of damage should it collide with anything on the ground.

The thing was heavy, but not nearly as heavy as the whole mass of New Krypton. Still, he painted quite a picture on the horizon as he took the meteor on his shoulders. The sun was rising, meteors were falling in streaks of flaming light, and the shadows were burning below. Kryptonite was everywhere, draining Clark as it had before, but this time there was no wound on his back with shards still inside. This time the mass wasn't so big, and he wasn't alone in trying to lift it. And this time he didn't have to worry about what Luthor would be doing while he was distracted lifting the mass away from the Earth. He did, however, have to worry about the smaller meteors that continued to fall around him, crashing into buildings and streets. Lois and Jason were in the city, they could be hurt by a stray rock; so were Perry and Jimmy, and now his mother was on the outskirts of town. He'd almost rather only have to worry about Luthor.

And if it all couldn't get worse, it started to rain. And it wasn't just raining, it was _pouring_. Sheets of rain came down and coated everything, slicking surfaces and soaking the people on the streets. The only good thing about it was that the fires spluttered and some of them went straight out. Clark, shielded beneath the fragment of New Krypton, continued pushing upwards still dry.

"Mommy, I still don't feel good," Jason said, looking back at his mom after his father had disappeared from normal human view.

"Is it the kryptonite, honey?" She asked softly, turning around to face him and doing her best to ignore the goings-on outside her window. Jason shook his head.

"I can feel the kryptonite too, but… I have a tummy ache, I think I might," he bit his lip and looked like he was going to throw up. Two minutes later he was doing just that in Lois's garbage can while she rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"Oh, honey," she whispered, eyes filled with pity. Of all the nights for his instable invulnerability to leave him susceptible to such a simple and uncomfortable human ailment as the stomach flu, it had to be the night that he hadn't slept and had to deal with large quantities of kryptonite, the kind that affected him no less, falling from the sky.

It was slow going lifting the meteor into the sky. The kryptonite was growing even faster now that it was raining, and a sharp shard had already punctured the hood of the car, passing dangerously close to Clark's left hand. He could feel his skin blistering at its closeness, but he couldn't shift his grip without loosing the careful balance of the large object above him. Instead, he pushed for more speed and was surprised when he got some.


	31. Chapter 31

**- - - Chapter Thirty-One**

Saturday afternoon, almost one o'clock, the meteors had finally stopped. The streets of Metropolis were littered with the poisonous rocks, and the rain was still coming down, the kryptonite continuing to grow. There was barely anybody else on the roads, at least not in their cars, Lois observed as she sped down the near-abandoned streets. People walked slowly from place to place, taking in the damage and staring at the fallen blocks of green. Jason moaned every time they got close to them, and the babies inside her had gone alarmingly still.

Jason was unconscious when she pulled into her driveway. Kryptonite exposure and exhaustion combined and the stomach flu on top of that. She'd gotten a call from Martha Kent saying that she was at their house, the older woman had panicked when she'd arrived at her son's house and found it completely empty.

Lois made it around to Jason's side of the car and opened the door as Martha hurtled out of the house. A few of her neighbors were in their driveways, looking for answers. "What happened?!" Martha asked, taking the boy from his pregnant mother and leading the way into the house. Lois had to stop a moment to look at the elder Mrs. Kent; she was a lot stronger than she looked. But then, she had raised Superman and she was still keeping the farm going in Smallville. An amazing woman.

"He hasn't slept in twenty-four hours, he has the stomach flu, and the streets on the way back here were coated in kryptonite," she said, putting a worried hand on her stomach, an action not missed by Martha, whose eyes darkened with worry.

"Well, let's not have you catching colds too," she said, pulling the door open and getting inside before she could get as soaked as the other two. "You go and change your clothes while I take care of him."

Lois was relieved not to have to deal with this on her own, and she'd rather have no one other than Martha here with her just now.

Lois quickly threw on a pair of sweats, pausing a moment to rub her belly and worry about the twins before rushing back out to the living room. Martha was there with a groggy Jason, smiling calmly as he came back to consciousness.

"How're you feeling, munchkin?"

"Icky," he said, sitting in a lawn chair on the patio, his face tipped up to the sun and his eyes wide open, absorbing it all. Lois almost reminded him that staring at the sun would hurt his eyes before she remembered just who his father happened to be. Chuckling to herself, she sat down in the chair next to him as Martha disappeared into the house.

"Is it the kryptonite or the flu right now?"

"The flu, I can't feel the kryptonite anymore."

"That's good," he gave her a look that said he disagreed, but she just smiled and he went back to watching the sunny sky. The yard was wet from last night's rain; it was still raining in downtown Metropolis not five miles away. Even Lois could hear the thunder.

"Dad's still by the kryptonite," he paused but didn't look over at her again. "And there's not as much sun there. He's not going to feel good when he gets back."

"He'll get better, he always does," she gave a reassuring smile she wasn't quite sure she felt. Jason bought it, though.

- - -

_Damn that chunk!_ Clark cursed again. The large chunk that he'd pushed into orbit had fallen to Earth three times in the course of the active meteor shower, and now it was falling a fourth time. At least this time it was the only thing falling form the sky.

The weather was taking a positive turn, and Batman and J'onzz were doing some good work on the ground, but that single humongous piece of poisonous rock kept falling from the sky. The first time he'd lifted it into orbit he hadn't gone as far as he could've, knowing other meteors would've come down and started it back on collision course with Metropolis again. The second time he had managed to get it a little higher up before the car hood he was still using between his hands and the kryptonite had been punctured through just where his hands needed to be. Blistering and feeling like he might throw up, he'd let it settle into orbit and gone back down to the downtown area to do what he could. The third time it had started to come back down on the opposite side of the world; Ollie had alerted him via the Watchtower. It was lucky he had when he did or Japan would've been half the island it was.

This time it was coming down a few miles east of Metropolis. There were no more chunks falling from the sky, just this huge one cutting through the rain clouds and growing bigger as each drop fell on it. Clark could feel it more than see it in the rain and the thick fog rolling off the ocean nearby. J'onzz was shouting something about alternative methods and just easing it to the ground, but Clark knew it would only continue to grown and take over the land; if he set it down, there was no way he would pick it up again.

So here he was again, flying towards something that would probably be the death of him in all eventuality. He cursed Luthor again, his guilt waning slightly at the sight of the grayish-green monstrosity.

There was nothing between him and the meteor this time. He'd found a new spot to grip it, this one having more than three meters of nice, safe, lava rock between him and the deadly green stuff. If this weren't the fourth time he was lifting this same rock, and if he hadn't been in a kryptonite riddled city all morning, this would be easy.

Hands spread wide, his shoulders pressing against the rock, he caught it. Its downward momentum lost him a few long yards. It took only seconds, but it felt like an eternity before he had stilled the momentum and was lifting farther into the sky. Once above the clouds it got easier, the sun reaching him even in the shady underbelly of the rock. He focused on the warmth and energy radiating from the yellow sun and pressed on.

One final push and it flew away from him into space, going towards the larger remnants of New Krypton. As one final attempt to make his life harder, a crack appeared on the meteor he'd just pushed away, and a quarter of it flew towards him. He wasn't sure if gravity should be pulling it towards him like that so far from the Earth, but he was a bit more concerned about the fact that it was and not why. He glared, blasting it with heat vision, and the thing exploded. Unfortunately for him, shards of kryptonite flew out from it, a few burying themselves in him. He gasped and choked on the lack of atmosphere.

He threw himself towards the Earth, sucking lungfuls of air as soon as he could. He found that he couldn't slow his descent, that he could barely maneuver in the skies. He passed down below the clouds and rain drove into him. He had dried off significantly above the clouds but that did him little good now. He couldn't even see the sun.

_How did that work?_ He asked himself. _Why did it come towards me? It should've flown out in every direction. It shouldn't have been falling towards me in the first place!_ But the world doesn't always make sense.

He managed to swoop a little as he approached the ground, gaining some altitude so that he wouldn't crash through the pavement or a person when he finally did crash. His vision was dancing wildly, shapes and colors drifting together. His heat vision was gone, x-ray vision gone. He could hear everything remarkably well even though he didn't feel like he could move a muscle. _Why is it that hearing is something that never fades? Is it meant to plague me so that I know who is hurting when I can't rush to help?_

He was happily unconscious by the time he hit the ground, but he still heard the impact.


	32. Chapter 32

**- - - Chapter Thirty-Two**

The news, muted in the background and all but forgotten, was telling those still up to listen just what was happening in Metropolis. The Justice League, though nobody knew to call them that, was taking care of Metropolis and Superman had just been dropped off at Metropolis General by none other than the Martian Manhunter. The view on the TV shifted to show the damage to the city; the streets were littered with still-growing kryptonite, buildings had large, flaming holes in them, and the rain was doing nothing to quench those fires. Batman and the Green Arrow could be seen moving around at street-level clearing away debris and helping emergency personnel where they could. The military, specifically a newly established wing of the army led by General Lane, was active as well, gathering all recovered kryptonite into one place and preparing to transport it back to their base. Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter were in the skies. J'onzz bringing chunks of kryptonite up from the street and giving it to Wonder Woman to throw back into space. Aquaman couldn't be seen, but his presence was obviated by the lumps of kryptonite that appeared out of nowhere on the docks.

Richard was too distracted to notice what was happening on his TV, though. He flipped it off and offered Georgianna something to drink, bringing out steaming mugs of coffee for the both of them and sinking into the chair across from her. He had a nice apartment, a bit spartan, but comfortable. One bedroom, one bathroom, a small kitchen, a small living room, a huge window looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. It was foggy tonight, having rained in the afternoon; the view a little spooky.

"Where... how did you get these?" Richard asked, changing the question when he realized the 'where' was obvious. Georgianna sipped her coffee, smirking, while he looked through the pictures in the envelope. She hadn't even brought everything she'd gathered, wanting to keep a few things to herself just in case, he _had_ be close to Lois once, after all.

"I had one of the _Planet_ photographers follow her for quite a while."

"One of the _Planet _photographers? Perry let you do that?!"

"No, Mr. White didn't know what was going on until my photographer slipped up. Mr. Kent caught her and told Perry, getting me fired."

"So you brought these to me," she nodded and he looked at her carefully. "Why?"

"I thought you'd be interested in them."

"I am, but..." he shook his head. "What did you expect me to do with them?"

"You, Mr. White, still work for a newspaper."

- - -

There was a crowd at Metropolis General's front door again when Lois arrived, Martha and Jason in tow.

She had passed Batman on her way into the city, sharing a significant look before the Dark Knight returned to his work removing the kryptonite from the streets. Gangsters and crime lords were picking off chunks of the meteors in hopes of holding on to some of the thing that could hurt Metropolis' guardian, something that could buy them the time they needed to rob a bank or 7Eleven. Batman was using much more force than necessary when he took those with kryptonite down.

Jason had been visibly shaking from kryptonite exposure when they parked, so Martha was carrying him. He'd spent all afternoon in the sunlight, taking a nap in the uncomfortable patio chair. Martha had made both of them lunch, insisting Lois stay out there with him for the babies' sake; they were just as Kryptonian as Jason and the sunlight would probably benefit them even while inside of her, especially after being so close to raw kryptonite. Lois was trying not to think of what it could mean for them to be so young and exposed.

"Thank you for being here, Martha," Lois said softly as they made their way through the crowd. Like last time, the people parted like the Red Sea.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else, darling," Martha said softly. Somewhere behind those doors was her son, lying on a hospital bed in a hospital gown, probably in pain. It was the last thing she wanted to see, and the thing she needed to see most. She squeezed Jason a little closer, holding him more firmly to her hip, and continued to march forward.

"Mrs. Kent," the officer looked like he'd like to deny them access, but the looks on their faces were enough to get them through. The crowd surged back into place behind them, muttering about the silver-haired woman carrying the Kent boy, wondering who she was.

"This way," the doctor said, just like last time. He glanced at Jason, staring into his blue eyes, looking for something but not finding it. "Mrs. Kent, I think it would a good idea if you came with me alone for the moment."

Lois looked at him like he was crazy, trying to read his face. She'd seen him here before, interviewed him with Clark; he was a good guy. Older, probably just a few years past sixty, but still perfectly capable of doing his job. He had floppy grayish hair, a tanned and wrinkled face, large wire-framed glasses that somehow managed to stay on his face no matter what, and a very slim build. He looked like a grandfather and probably was. Something in his face told Lois that she was in for an unpleasant afternoon, one that shouldn't start with her son and her mother-in-law seeing whatever she was about to see. Martha seemed to get the same impression, putting a gentle hand on Lois's shoulder and smiling wearily.

"We'll wait right over there, honey," Martha said gently, and Lois nodded.

"Be good for Grandma, munchkin, I'll be back in a little bit."

"Okay," Jason said, he still looked unsteady, but his eyes were clear and almost calculating, reminding Lois of the man she was here to see.

"Okay," Lois whispered back before turning and following Doctor Larsen, the familiar doctor, down an all but deserted hallway to an observation room. "Surgery?" Lois asked, recognizing the wing he had led her to.

"There were shards of kryptonite embedded all over him," Doctor Larsen almost sounded scared. Lois looked at him with worry. "Mrs. Kent, there's something I need to give to you before we go into that observation room."

"Okay," Lois said again, turning to face him. She was standing perfectly still, watching him fish around in his coat pocket for something. Her face paled when he pulled a gold band out of his pocket. Clark had forgotten to take off his wedding ring when he'd gone to 'fight' the meteors. He'd been flying with Jason and probably hadn't thought he would be in the public eye. He hated not wearing the ring. Lois swallowed dryly a few times before reaching out to take the ring, biting her lip.

The doctor's eyes opened a little wider when he saw the ring on her finger, seeing the exact same design scratched into the metal; it was a group of Kryptonian symbols that Clark had had engraved on both rings, his one admittance to his heritage. There were three symbols, resting at the base of the ring on the palm side so that nobody would notice them. Three symbols that she had never quite mastered saying; their meaning seemed stronger when said in Kryptonian: love, loyalty, eternity. The design almost looked random when seen out of context, unfortunately the doctor standing before her had context. She suspected he had spent awhile staring at the symbols on the ring he'd pulled off of Superman before any of the others noticed its presence. Doctor Larsen was no fool; he knew what it could mean for Superman to wear a wedding band, and what it meant that Lois Kent had the exact same symbols engraved on her wedding band.

"Please, don't…" she trailed off, still biting her lip. The doctor just nodded and turned around, continuing to lead her towards the observation room as though nothing had happened. Lois was grateful for the man's quick thinking, but knew he would be making a visit later to ask the innumerable questions flying through his brain just then. Instead of worrying, she followed him to the observation room and turned to look at her husband on the operating table.

There were four doctors gathered around him, each with sterile tools resembling needle nose pliers or tweezers, the sized varied from doctor to doctor. Each was focusing on a shard of kryptonite. Clark was sitting up on the table, gripping the edge of the bed so tightly that the metal was bending. His face was a mask of pain, his eyes squeezed shut. It occurred to Lois that human sedatives or painkillers wouldn't work on him, so he had to endure this for himself. Lois blinked back tears, knowing the last thing he needed was to see her cry.

_Damn hormones!_

His head shot up, eyes opening and staring right at her, as though he had heard her thoughts. He checked her over in a brief second, and for that second he didn't seem to be feeling anything that the doctors were doing. It was only her face behind the glass he wasn't supposed to be able to see through.

_At least that means his x-ray vision is still there, that's a good sign,_ she was breathing shallowly as though she was trying to ward off hyperventilation, and she was, not that it helped. That was her husband down there, the father of her children, the guy who couldn't even stub his toe properly, _Superman_ sitting on the paper-covered bed while surgeons pulled glowing green shafts of geologic poison out of his flesh. She bit her lip again and could've sworn she saw him smile.

"It's not funny, Clark," she mumbled to him harshly, which only made his grin a little more dominant on his features. She smiled a little but it was quickly replaced by worry. The humor had left his eyes as one of the bigger splinters had been pulled from his back, making him gasp in pain.

His concentration was on the people around him again, but she knew he was listening. She knew it was her heartbeat he was focusing on to keep himself from crying out, and that thought alone brought the tears out of her eyes and onto her cheeks. Doctor Larsen had cleared the observation room of all personnel, it was just the two of them now and he was watching her carefully.

Twenty minutes later the doctors below were all but done. Leaning her head against the cool glass window, Lois sighed with relief. With the kryptonite out of him only time and sunlight, sunlamps at the moment, until Superman would be back up and running. The doctor was still watching her and it was beginning to ride on her nerves. _Yes, I married Superman, okay? Get over it, bucko; I'm tired, hungry, said husband is in pain, and my little boy has the stomach flu on top of kryptonite poisoning. _

"Oh my gosh, Jason," Lois remembers, standing up straight. Below her, Clark's eyes shot open, immediately peering through the layers of walls to find his son. A worried look passed over his face and sent Lois waddling out of the room, Doctor Larsen in tow once again. "Jason, honey, how're you doing?" She asked upon approach.

"I'm okay, Mom," Jason shrugged, not looking okay.

"His stomach has been acting up a bit," Martha said, eyes on her daughter-in-law.

"How is he?" Jason asked, cutting his grandmother off from asking the same question.

"He's going to be okay," both people in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs relax visibly. "You could come see him now, I think," Lois glanced at the doctor behind her and received no response. Sighing, Lois decided to ignore him.

"Let's go!" Jason was on his feet again in a hurry, looking better already just because of the enthusiasm in his features.

"Follow the doctor," Lois said, but Jason was already walking quickly, almost running, down the appropriate hallways. "Jason Kent," she said with enough harshness to make her son turn around and look bashful, "you were already watching, weren't you?"

"His breathing was funny and his heart was too fast," Jason whispered urgently back to her. The sad look on his face was enough to melt any anger in Lois's heart.

"I thought you two had a talk about peeking like that," she sighed, getting a smile from her son.

"About looking at the babies, Mom, not looking at him."

"Yes, well, just privacy in general, Jason," they'd arrived at the observation room, so the conversation stopped.

Clark was still sitting on the bed, his famous suit stripped away down to his waist. The top half and cape lay crumpled on the defibrillator in the corner. His eyes were closed, concentrating on not letting the pain he was in carry up to his family in the observation room. The doctors were cleaning out the wounds, putting gauze and tape over them and adjusting the sun lamps. The kryptonite had disappeared, taken out of the room by one of the nurses.

"He's going to be fine," Doctor Larsen assured them. Lois nodded distractedly, concentrating on the pain that shot through her abdomen. Jason was looking down at his father, still pale from the human sickness. Martha had a hand over her mouth, not hearing a word. The doctor jumped when Clark's eyes shot open, focusing immediately on Lois, his expression worried. The doctors in the room with Clark looked up at the reflective observation window, only seeing themselves, looking back at him with confusion until they realized he was probably seeing right through the glass. Everybody in the observation room turned to look at Lois just in time to see her water break.


	33. Chapter 33

**- - - Chapter Thirty-Three**

_It's too soon!_ Was all Lois could think as they all looked at her; she was staring down at Clark, mirroring the surprised look on his face.

Clark was on his feet, still staring straight up at the window. The doctors around him were protesting, "Superman! Sit down, please! Superman, you don't want to aggravate your wounds, do you? Superman!" But none of them were able to get his attention.

Jason was staring at his mother in horror; where did all that water come from? _Why_ did it come out? Were the babies okay? Disregarding everything his father had ever told him about x-raying people without permission, and especially what he'd been told about not looking at the babies, he looked into his mother's abdomen. He wasn't happy to be seeing his mom's insides, but everything looked okay. The babies were turned around so that their heads were facing down; neither were moving much, but they looked okay so far as he could tell. He could hear their heartbeats, both a little quicker than they normally beat, but not alarmingly fast. He looked away, down at his father. Clark's face was written with worry, almost panic. Lois was in labor and he was stuck playing Superman; it was the fear they hadn't talked about.

"Lois, honey, your water broke," Martha said plainly, staring with wide eyes at the younger woman.

"But…" Lois said, looking from Martha, to Clark, to the doctor. "I'm not due for another six weeks!"

"Jason was premature, wasn't he?" Martha inquired, still calm.

"Yes, but," she shrugged. Doctor Larsen snapped into doctor mode.

"Mrs. Kent, I need to get you up to the maternity ward."

"But, but," Lois looked frantically down at Clark, who looked helplessly back.

"I'll get him put in a room with a window he can disappear out of again," the doctor calmly assured her. Martha's jaw dropped, and Jason looked confused. Lois just nodded and doubled over as a contraction hit.

"Isn't this happening a bit fast?" Martha asked, much more tense than she had been a moment ago.

_Ya think?_ Lois wanted to ask, but she was too worried about breathing to be sarcastic. Martha seemed to know this and smiled. Lois glanced back down at Clark, who had sat back down on the bed and was watching her with worried eyes, glancing at the doctor every few seconds.

"Everything is going to be okay," Doctor Larsen assured her, leading her down the hall, Jason and Martha in tow.

- - -

Clark blinked and sat up. _Oh shit_. Now, he usually refrained from profanity, even in his own head, but this situation certainly called for some strong language.

He was lying in a hospital bed in a hospital gown. His room was empty, his suit draped over a chair with his boots beside it. _Just like last time. Shit._ He took stock of his body and levitated off the bed a little. _At least that works_. He sighed.

There was a police officer stationed outside his door, the same one, possibly, who had stood there last time. A nurse was making her way down the hall to check on him; who else could she be checking on? There was nobody else anywhere near him. _Why do I need my own wing of the hospital?_ He wondered, thinking of all the beds that weren't being used for his sake. He sighed, stood shakily and walked over to his suit. Hidden in the fold of the cape were the clothes he had been wearing at the dinner party yesterday. After a moment's thought, the changed into the jeans and white t-shirt, leaving the white button-up open and rolled up the sleeves. He put his glasses on and super-sped past the nurse as she opened the door. The alarm rang out a few seconds later, the nurse pressing it when she'd found him gone and not registering that he was the blast of wind she had felt whip by her as she entered the room.

He sped down the halls, following Lois's heartbeat and trying not to scatter too many papers behind him. He could hear her across the hospital. Another contraction hit her and the doctors were telling her that it was getting close to time to push and she was fervently refusing to do so until he was present. _I'm coming, I'm coming!_ He shouted in his mind, slowing down to normal speed as he blew into the waiting room.

"Clark!" Martha said, pulling him close, Jason watched from behind with relieved eyes; nothing could go wrong when Dad was around, right? He winced when she came into contact with the still healing wounds that covered his body. Her eyes went from worried to accusing and back to worried. "You're hurt."

"Lois is in labor," he reminded her.

"You should be in there."

"Dad!" Jason gave him a careful hug and Clark squeezed him back.

"Feeling any better?"

"Not really," Jason admitted. He'd thrown up into the waste bin a few minutes ago, but refused to leave the waiting room. _So much like Lois_, Clark thought, smiling.

"I'll come and get you as soon as they're born, okay?" He said, knowing they'd have to be careful with Jason being sick.

"Okay," Jason smiled back. He pulled the revised list, now back down to a single page, out of his pocket. "Don't forget the names!"

"Thanks munchkin," he pecked Jason's cheek and hurried toward Lois's room.

Doctor Larsen was waiting just outside the door, pacing. His eyes widened when he saw Clark coming his way and Clark belatedly remembered that the doctor had put a few things together in the past few hours.

"Doctor," Clark said carefully, using the deep pitch he usually did as Superman. The doctor just nodded, his lips tightly pressed together; he certainly hadn't woken up this morning expecting to see Superman walking down the hall in the maternity ward wearing Converse All Stars and thick glasses. Clark continued past him, not in the mood to worry about secrets at the moment. "Lois?" He asked as he entered the room. There was a relieved gasp from the woman on the bed.

"Clark!"

"How're you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"I'm fine, 'Lo, really; how're you doing?" Lois was paler than usual, her lips drawn in a tense, anticipatory smile.

"I'm looking forward to this being done," she admitted with a light shrug that looked hard to pull off. He came around the bed and took her hand just as another contraction hit. Lois gasped, doubling up slightly on the bed while the doctors moved around her. Clark noticed Doctor Larsen standing by the door, watching. _What, you want to witness the birth of Superman's children? If you're not going to help, leave._ Clark found himself thinking, glaring at the man through his thick glasses. The doctor didn't notice, though, he was too busy looking at a chart that had appeared in his hands. Clark didn't blame him for wanting this glimpse at Superman's life, it was what every single person standing outside wanted, though they wanted him to be alright, too, he knew.

"When the next contraction comes, you need to push, Lois," the woman in charge informed her. Lois paled again and gulped, nodding. She withdrew her hand for a moment, reaching over and picking something up off a nearby table. She slipped it to him when she retook his hand; his wedding band. A worried look passed over his face, but she assured him with a slight shake of her head and a small smile that said 'I'll explain later.' Accepting that, Clark went back to the 'problem' at hand, slipping the ring on his finger without the midwives noticing.

"You can do this, Lois," Clark assured her.

"I know, I already did it once," she sighed, her brow wrinkling. "At least you're here this time."

Clark just nodded, his eyes tearing up slightly, and he kissed the back of the hand he was holding.

It was hard for him to watch her in labor. She held onto his hand so tightly he knew that if he wasn't invulnerable she would've broken just about every bone he had in it. She was sweating, cursing, pushing, breathing; so much work. She reminded him that it was all his fault and all he could do was nod, his eyes wide with sympathy. The midwives around her knew what they were doing, giving her all the right instructions and getting sarcastic comments thrown back at them. He couldn't help but smile.

The room filled with an angry scream as the first child came into the too bright, too cold, too not-the-womb world. A girl. A beautiful, healthy baby girl. "It's a girl, 'Lo," he whispered to her while she breathed in between babies. They'd been at this for hours, she was shaking, sweating, almost exhausted. She looked the way he felt before he fell out of orbit only without the green tinge from kryptonite poisoning. He decided he would definitely not be comparing that again; he was still very sore.

"Push, Lois!" The woman in charge commanded and Lois squeezed her eyes shut, doing as she was told. Clark alternated watching Lois push the second child out of her and watched the nurses clean up the first little girl. He x-rayed both of them. Lois was doing alright, he didn't see anything that shouldn't be happening; of course, he strayed away from looking at the second child just yet, he'd promised Lois.

"No peeking," she reminded him when she saw him looking, her voice was barely a whisper. He chuckled lightly.

"I'm not, just checking on you."

"I'm not sure if I should be grateful or embarrassed."

"_Nothing_ to be embarrassed about, Lois," he assured her, pressing a kiss on her temple as she started pushing again. The little girl across the room seemed fine. If her indignant screams were any sign, she wouldn't be having any trouble with asthma in this or the next life. She was tiny, barely five pounds, not quite as long as his forearm. She was tiny, pink, _perfect_. Looking inside, he didn't see anything wrong with her. If the kryptonite had been what had gotten the little ones moving out of mom so early, it seemed not to have hurt them in any physical way he could see. Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked out into the waiting room. His mother was pacing and Jason was breathing deeply, still not feeling well; he had heard the doctors give him some Pepto to help him feel better, but it had just made him throw up again.

"Ugh," Lois said, collapsing back with a final push and baby number two entered the world, screaming just as loud as her sister.

"Two little girls, 'Lo," he said softly, peppering her hand with kisses.

"Two little girls," she repeated tiredly.

"Here's little girl number one," the midwife said, bringing the girl over and handing her to Lois. "Number two will be ready in just a moment," she smiled at the tired parents. Clark hadn't felt his wounds but now he was yearning for some sunlight even for just second; he was tired, his joints ached, and the wounds were stinging like papercuts with lemon juice in them. He wasn't about to complain, though. There were more important things on hand.

He was handed little girl number two a few minutes later, and he held her and fed her her first bottle. Lois was doing the same with baby number one in her arms, relaxed against the pillow, her face lit up with love even though she was exhausted.

The midwives cleared out, leaving them for a few minutes. Doctor Larsen was just outside the door, not listening in, but not leaving them alone either.

"How are you doing?" Lois asked as the child in her arms settled against her.

"I'm fine, I promise," he said with a reassuring smile. "How are you?"

"Tired," she admitted.

"You were amazing," he stared at her with such love that she blushed. It was very difficult, even for him, to make Lois blush. She looked down at the tiny little girl wrapped in a blanket in her arms, a pink hat the only thing different from her sister in her father's arms; baby number two wore a white hat with pink stripes.

"Did Jason give you his list?"

"Yes," Clark said, shifting slightly so that he could get the list out of his back pocket without disturbing the dozing child in his arms. He held it up and read it for Lois. They went over name after name; each one had been read to them countless times by their son.

"Sidha Lee Kent," Lois said, looking down at the little girl in her arms. "Sidha Lee."

"And Elyse Mariel?" Clark asked, looking at their list. He'd been crossing names out with carefully controlled blasts of heat vision until they were down to the names they had chosen.

"Sidha and Elly," Lois sighed, looking at her daughters and her husband. They smiled at each other for a moment before they were interrupted by the woman in charge.

They filled out birth certificates when the girls were taken away for the required tests. Clark was nervous about the separation, but Lois seemed okay with it, keeping Clark calm.

"Clark, if anything goes wrong, you'll be the first to know," she reminded him.

"You're right," he smiled back at her, taking her hand again. He looked down at the two official-looking forms on the table beside him. Sidha and Elly were official now, with all the numbers and signatures in the right places; Sidha Lee and Elyse Mariel, born on an unusually warm, unusually wet, January 15. "I love you," he whispered to her, bringing the hand to his lips while she watched, her eyes droopy with exhaustion but filled with the same emotions he was feeling.

"I love you, too," she whispered back. They sat in silence for a moment, until something occurred to her. "Clark… are you sure they're okay, I mean- they're _six weeks_ early."

"They're fine," he assured her, looking thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "I went to the Fortress awhile ago and had a rather uncomfortable conversation with the artificial intelligence."

"How do you have an uncomfortable conversation with artificial intelligence?"

"Apparently my father programmed his innate need to give his son a bit of trouble into the crystals," he chuckled.

"How kind of him," Lois said, trying to imagine what that conversation could've been like.

"Yes, well. Um, after we got past the _personality_, he told me that Krytponian pregnancies only last about six months."

"Only?"

"Yeah," he shrugged.

"Those poor women."

"What do you mean?" For all he knew, she would've been happy to have a shorter pregnancy.

"Well, think about it, Clark," she gave him a look. "They babies would have to get just as big in two-thirds the time. Think of how uncomfortable that would be!"

"I really have no idea," he said, flushing ever so slightly and making Lois smile.

- - -

He sat with her until she fell asleep, which didn't take very long; she was _exhausted_ physically and emotionally. Clark stood then, looking around the room. It didn't seem like a very significant place, just a clean, almost comfortable hospital room. But it was so much more.

He sighed and left the room, ignoring Doctor Larsen as best he could as he walked towards the waiting room. His mother was drowsing in her chair, it was going on seven o'clock and she'd left Smallville early. Jason was sound asleep, hopefully sleeping away what was left of the flu bug so that he'd be able to see his sisters within the week.

"Mom?" He said, gently, rubbing her shoulder. Martha jolted awake, looking around for the source of the familiar voice and immediately settling on the cerulean eyes behind ridiculously thick glasses.

"Clark," she said, relieved to see his face, then she seemed to remember why she was sitting in the waiting room. She looked up at him expectantly and he didn't disappoint her, his face breaking into a huge smile he'd been wearing for the past few hours.

"Two little girls," he said, hugging her back when she threw herself at him. This time he was braced for it and able to completely, well not _completely_ but well enough, ignore the jarring of his wounds. "Sidha Lee, and Elyse Mariel. Sidha and Elly," he said softly.

"Sidha and Elly," Martha repeated. She'd never expected to have grandchildren when she and her husband had taken in the alien boy they'd found crawling out of his spaceship on the side of the road. She was smiling and crying at the same time. She pulled him close again and held him there until she remembered what had happened to him last time he was outside the hospital. "Oh, Clark, I'm sorry! Are you okay, I didn't…?"

"Mom, I'm fine, I'm _great_," he chuckled. She didn't believe him, giving him a critical look over from the well-worn black All Stars he was wearing, to the lazy creases in his shirt sleeves where he'd rolled them up. "I've never been better."

"Oh good, good," she sighed. "Congratulations, honey."

"Thank you, Mom," he sighed back, pulling her in for another hug. She sat down in her chair again, looking over at Jason next to her. "How's he doing? I heard him after they gave him the Pepto."

"It's just the flu," she assured him. "A twenty-four hour bug, if I'm not mistaken. He seemed to be getting better right before he fell asleep; he'll probably feel fine when he wakes up if he's anything like you," she smirked at him and he shrugged.

"I'll take him up to get some sun," he said, mostly to himself. Martha thought for a moment before cocking her head at him with a question.

"Are the girls okay? I know Jason was fragile as a baby."

"As far as we can tell," he responded. "We won't know for awhile. I doubt they'll have asthma, though."

"Why's that?"

"They yelled loud enough upon introduction to the world," Martha chuckled.

"Well, I'm sure Jason did, too, honey," she said. "All babies do, well, not _all _of them, but most of them."

"You're cracking my confidence here, Mom," he scolded her. He really wanted everything to be perfectly alright with these little girls. They were too perfect for anything to go wrong in their lives, especially not so soon.

"Don't worry, Clark," Martha said, stretching her back. "They're your kids, they'll be fine."

"They're _Lois's_ kids," Clark responded with another broad smile, "they'll be fine."

"And with both of you nothing can go wrong," she said softly, knowing it would strike a chord with him. He just nodded.

Martha went to sit with her sleeping daughter-in-law, hugging her son again before he bent down to pick up his son. Doctor Larsen was watching from the doorway again, trying to piece together the scene he was witnessing. Not only was Superman married, he had a son and now two daughters, and he was calling the elderly woman in the waiting room 'Mom.'

Clark walked out of view with Jason slumbering against his chest, and Martha slid past the doctor without looking at him.

"Would you mind if I brought the pair of you home so you can sleep in real beds tonight?" Clark asked when he returned from their little trip above the clouds. Lois was still asleep and Jason, though awake, was still tired. Martha looked like she might fall asleep in the not-so-comfortable-looking chair pulled up to Lois's bed.

"Can I see the twins before we leave?" Clark nodded.

"We're going to go look through a window and see them," he explained to Jason when the boy looked up from where his head rested against Clark's shoulder. "We don't want them getting sick with the flu and even though you're feeling okay, they might still catch it."

"I hate being sick," Jason said, sitting up a bit in his father's arms. "Do I have brothers, or sisters, or one of each?" Clark was impressed; either Jason had kept up his end of the deal and not checked, or he was a really good liar. The thought made him chuckle.

"You have two little sisters," he said with a smile. Jason's face broke out in an identical grin that reminded Martha of a _much_ younger Clark. "Sidha and Elly."

"Sidha and Elly," Jason repeated the names as his grandmother had. "I'm a big brother," he told Martha, smiling even wider if possible.

"Yes you are," she replied, picking up her purse and preparing to follow her son out.

"Come on, then; we're going to go have a look at them and then I'll take you home while Mom naps. Sound good?" Jason just nodded, letting his dad pick him up, wrapping his arms around his neck like he did when they were flying.

"They're so _little_," Jason said softly, as though speaking too loudly on the other side of the glass would wake them. The little Kent girls were soundly asleep in their individual cribs. They were tiny in their little pink and pink striped hats. Clark couldn't help but smile as he watched Jason's face flip between a huge smile and slack-jawed awe at the little creatures that were his sisters.

"They'll get bigger," Martha assured him. "They'll be stealing your toys and annoying you to no end soon enough."

The three of them just stood there for almost a half an hour until Jason was unable to hide his yawns anymore and Clark declared it was time to go. "But _Dad_," Jason whined.

"Jason, you'll be able to come back tomorrow, you'll see Mom then."

"Okay," he sighed, leaning his head against Clark's shoulder.

- - -

Lois opened her eyes and found her husband asleep in the chair beside her bed. Sometime while she was sleeping she'd been moved into a new room, a much more comfortable room. It had a window with relatively cheerful reddish-beige curtains, the somewhat comfortable looking chair Clark was currently passed out in, a couple of laminated wood tables with flowers on them. Clark had probably brought the flowers through the window that Dr. Larsen had probably pulled strings for them to get.

She took an inventory of her body, noting the lightness she felt on her back right away. There was a dull ache in her lower regions, but she was still on too many pain medications to be feeling anything just yet. She body was tired, exhausted really, but her brain was fully rested and ready for the next big story. Instead of grabbing her phone to bug her sources, she watched Clark sleep. It was a rare treat. He looked exhausted, his glasses drooping off to one side and his hair all over.

"Clark," she whispered, knowing he'd be awake at the slightest noise. He didn't move. "Clark!" She said louder and sighed with relief when he jerked upright in his chair. She bit her lip, watching him wince in pain.

"You're awake," he observed quietly, coming to sit beside her on the bed and doing his best to not show whatever discomfort he was in. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm alright," she said with a smile. Really, she was. She was a little sore, but that came with the territory; and she had two daughters currently sleeping with all the other newborns in the sanitary room where the doctors could monitor them while she rested up to take care of them for the rest of their lives. "Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured her, but she glared at him. "Really, Lois, I'm just tired."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, and the guys won't let me back out there to help, so you don't have to worry," he chuckled. He'd been a ball of nervous energy earlier, going down to the streets of Metropolis to try and help and only encountering more kryptonite. Bruce had given him a talking to, sending him back to the hospital with threats that would never be carried out.

"What time is it?" She asked, changing the subject.

"It's late."

"Where's Jason?"

"With Mom at home."

"Is he feeling better?"

"Yeah, he's fine; excited to see his sisters again."

"How're they doing?" She paused to smile. "I can't believe I slept so long."

"It's been a long couple of days," he sat on the edge of her bed again, taking one of her hands in both of his.

- - -

Lois was inhaling her breakfast tray the next morning when the girls were brought in for a visit. Both had been sleeping a lot and eating a lot. According to the doctors, the blood samples that had been taken showed high white blood cell counts; they were fighting off some sort of infection, but there was nothing wrong with them so far as the tests could show. Clark had extrapolated that they might be reacting to the kryptonite. They looked fine, though, and they weren't in pain; they could only hope that everything turned out alright.

Both girls had their father's cerulean eyes, piercing even in their infancy. Under the different colored hats was a light layer of thick, dark brown hair that wasn't long enough to be considered more than fuzz. It was too soon to really tell, but they were probably identical twins; their father's jaw, their mother's nose, their father's lung capacity and their mother's inclination to be loud. They had Jason's ears, too, but Lois had never figured out where those ears came from.

- - -

Doctor Larsen finally had the guts to talk to Lois and Clark the next afternoon.

Lois was sitting up in bed, her standard hospital tray of food across her lap. Clark sat by the window absorbing the sunlight and eating the Potbelly's sub he had snagged for himself on the way in from a rescue in Suicide Slums.

"What's the latest at the _Planet_? Have you talked to Perry?" Lois asked as soon as he had taken his first bite of sandwich, smiling to herself at the annoyed look that flashed across his face.

"Well, Jimmy and Perry have made our announcement for us," he chuckled; he'd heard the buzz loud and clear all morning. "We're all the buzz," she smiled back. "Perry insists we both take at least two weeks off before even considering coming back."

"That's not enough time," she said decisively and he nodded.

"He said 'at least.' Of course, he won't actually let us come back for at least a month. He just knows that if he didn't give you the option of coming in earlier you'd get offended."

"He's right," she mumbled begrudgingly. Clark just smirked at her and took another bite of his sandwich. "When're they bringing up the girls?"

"They're asleep right now," he answered, glancing through the walls to see the pair of them snoozing softly side by side. "I think they'll be coming up when they wake up so we can feed them."

"Good," Lois smiled, wishing she could see through the walls like he could, and looking back down at her tray of hospital food. "I wish you'd gotten me a sub."

"I'll bring you dinner," he promised and she sighed theatrically. He chuckled and shook his head, stopping suddenly when Doctor Larsen came in the room looking nervous. "Doctor, I was wondering when you'd be stopping by," he said conversationally.

"Yes, well," the doctor said awkwardly.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you for, um, you know," he held up his wedding ring adorned hand and smiled a bit sheepishly.

"Not a problem, anytime," the doctor assured them, still looking awkward.

"I still can't believe you forgot to take it off," Lois sighed, pushing his buttons. _Hey, I'm stuck in bed- I might as well get in a good verbal battle with the Man of Steel…_

"Lois," he sighed, "I wasn't exactly expecting a meteor shower… we were just trying to get rid of Jason's flu." The smirk on her face told him that she knew just that, and he rolled his eyes.

"How did you plan to get rid of his flu?" The doctor asked, intrigued.

"Sunlight," Clark said simply.

"I see, so it works for him as well?" Clark nodded somewhat guardedly. "Have you considered holding your little girls in the sunlight to help get rid of whatever has their white blood cell counts up?"

"It's the kryptonite," Lois said and Clark just nodded, telling the doctor that they had thought to stand with the girls in the sunlight and agreeing with Lois with the same gesture.

"Intriguing," the doctor murmured. Clark tried hard not to glare, but Lois didn't have such reservations. The doctor seemed startled by their reactions. "So, uh, Mr. Kent," Clark turned to look at him calmly, Lois still glaring. "How are you feeling? Any residual kryptonite-related illness? Is everything healing alright?" He knew better than to ask to see the bandages that had been placed over the wounds.

"Still feeling a bit like papercuts with lemon juice," Clark shrugged, thinking back to his earlier analysis of his injuries. "Only without the physical cut."

"Intriguing," the doctor muttered again, but only Clark heard him and chose to ignore it. "And you, Mrs. Kent?" He said louder, turning and raising a polite eyebrow.

"I'm fine," her voice was a little cold but a glance from her husband earned the doctor a forced smile. The doctor nodded, immediately feeling awkward again.

"Well, they're planning on releasing you tomorrow afternoon or early the following day," that brought a real smile to Lois' face. "Sidha and Elyse will probably need to stay here for the remainder of the week for observation or until their white cell count goes down enough so that their doctors feel comfortable releasing them."

"Can't you pull some strings and get them out early?" Lois asked, forehead creasing slightly. "They'll be fine with enough sunlight and away from the kryptonite."

"I'm a trauma doctor, Mrs. Kent, I don't have much authority in the way of newborns," he said with a sigh as though he honestly regretted not being able to help.

"It's better that they're here in case something goes wrong," Clark said thoughtfully, looking up at Lois. "I have no idea how they'll react to sunlight, or how being exposed to kryptonite so early in life will affect them," he gave a shrug, still thoughtful.

"But the kryptonite's out of the streets now so we could take them home without a problem, and there's plenty of windows at our house," Lois pointed out.

"Yes, but there are _doctors_ here," he reminded her.

"Yeah, well, I hate hospitals… no offense," she added belatedly to Doctor Larsen.

"None taken, I, myself, can't stand being a patient," Clark just nodded, and Lois smirked at him as she remembered his aversion to hospitals. The doctor caught the glance between the pair of them, but couldn't think of a polite way to ask about it and neither felt the need to throw him a bone. They were interrupted in the next moment by Clark's head jerking to the side.

"Gimme your sub if you're gonna go running off to save the world," Lois instructed. Clark took a big bite and handed the rest to her.

"I'll be back soon, and thank you, Doctor Larsen," he said, smiling at each of them before hurrying off towards the side entrance he'd been using to appear and disappear.

"I'll, uh, just let you rest, then," the doctor said after Clark was gone.

"Thanks," Lois said with a nod, starting on Clark's sub with much more fervor than she'd had for her own meal.

- - -

The twins were indeed held for observation for the rest of the week. The high white cell count had the doctors worried, even though it was quickly dropping to normal levels; Clark held them in the sun whenever he could, sitting by the window with one on each shoulder while they slept. Lois just watched the three of them, smiling. It was times like these when she wanted Jimmy to burst into the room with a camera, but the supposed instability of the girls' health had kept even Martha and Jason from being allowed to do more than look at them from the other side of a pane of glass.

People from work passed by as the week did. They would stop in to see Lois and Clark in Lois's room, and Clark would take them to look at the sleeping twins. Lois was amazed that his cheeks hadn't fallen off from all the smiling he'd been doing. Jason spent the week with his grandma at home; he still had school, after all.

He was doing well in the second grade, he liked his teacher, and he had friends in class. Everybody in the neighborhood seemed to go to his school, and they had all decided they like him, therefore he now had more friends than ever. Of course, that meant he had to keep an eye on his developing abilities more closely. Clark dropped by once during recess, flying low overhead and causing general stir among the playing children. Clark had appeared, glasses and all, moments later with dessert to share with his son and a digital camera full of pictures of his new baby sisters.

Lois was more than ready to go home by the end of the obligatory week. She had refused to leave unless the girls could come with her and, though she didn't regret her decision, she was very tired of doctors checking on her and ordering her back to bed. Clark, in her opinion, wasn't helping either; not supporting her insistence that she was perfectly fine standing by the window instead of laying on the bed. Of course, he didn't object and even helped when she wanted to get out of bed to stand in the sun. He seemed to enjoy standing with his hands around her waist, eyes closed to the sunlight streaming in during the late afternoons. The only times she liked better than those moments were the moments when he was holding the twins; that and when she got to hold her daughters herself.


	34. Chapter 34

**- - - Chapter Thirty-Four **

Richard stared at the photos spread across his coffee table. Georgianna had left hours ago, heading to her hotel room for a few hours of sleep.

_I think I'll head to Metropolis. Have a talk with Mrs. Kent_, he sighed bitterly, calling in to work for some personal time before packing a suitcase and throwing the photos in on top. He'd be in the out of town before Georgianna even came back to his apartment.

- - -

"Home, finally!" Lois said, walking in a little tiredly and putting the baby carrier she'd been carrying on the floor. She stripped away layers of blankets to reveal a little pink bundle of baby. Clark did similarly with Sidha when he followed her inside. Jason was hovering nearby, held back by his equally anticipatory grandma.

Jason was so careful with his new little sisters. He sat on the couch and crossed his legs to make a lap, putting one hand behind her head and the other on her stomach. Sidha was first as Martha had scooped Elly up as soon as Lois had her out of the carrier. Sidha looked up at her brother with matching cerulean eyes and just stared at him. For awhile Jason stared back, smiling and cooing softly, telling her that he was her big brother Jason. Clark hovered nearby, crouching down with a hand next to Jason on the couch. Lois was doing similarly with Martha in the big armchair, but she was more wanting to be close to have a better view of her daughter's face than because she was worried about the what-ifs of Jason holding his little sister.

Both girls were quiet, just looking at the new faces with interest and taking in their new surroundings. They had done this at the hospital as well, taken a few hours to adjust to their new surroundings in silence before deciding it was okay and protesting about the little discomforts.

**Please don't throw things! The next chapter will be up soon, and its longer- promise!!**


	35. Chapter 35

**- - - Chapter Thirty-Five**

Richard pulled into yet another gas station, this one just outside of Metropolis. He'd be at the Kent's in less than an hour. He would've been there sooner if he hadn't been riding on empty for the last twenty miles; of _course_ he would have to stop so close to his goal.

- - -

Clark settled onto the couch next to Lois, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. "How're you doing?" He asked softly, looking down at her as she rested against his chest.

"I'm just fine," she replied equally as softly, but tired. It had been a busy day. They'd come back from the hospital, and the twins had given them four whole hours of relative silence as they adjusted to the new place.

Jason and Martha had held each of them before lunch, cooing down at the little girls and smiling widely. Then Sidha had filled her diaper and Jason had decided he was done holding her, letting Clark take diaper duty.

And so the day had passed. Martha was a blessing to have around. She kept Jason entertained while Lois and Clark tended to the babies, and helped Lois when Clark had to run off to be Superman, which wasn't often. The Justice League insisted that he stay out of things not of the utmost importance, especially staying away from the cleanup efforts underway concerning the kryptonite. The guy in charge happened to have his phone number and promised to call if _anything _happened. The General was excited to hear that he had two new grandbabies, but wanted to make the city safe and kryptonite-free for them and their Daddy before visiting them. Lucy had stopped by, bringing dinner and cooing at her nieces for an hour or so before returning to her own family.

Now Jason was asleep in his bedroom, Martha was in the shower and preparing to settle in the guest bedroom upstairs, and Lois and Clark were taking a moment to themselves in the nursery. They had put a loveseat in the nursery and were now reclining on it, watching the tiny girls sleep in their seemingly overlarge cribs. They would probably sleep for a few hours having been up for a longer period of time during the dinner hour.

A loud banging on the front door not ten minutes later interrupted the peaceful silence that had settled over the house. Lois hissed softly, rising off Clark's lap to let him super-speed downstairs to stop the knocking. She stayed in the room long enough to be sure that the girls wouldn't be waking up and made sure the baby monitor was on before she closed the door and headed down the stairs.

Clark threw the door open, planning to throttle whoever was on the other side with his eyes. _Who in their right mind would knock on our door this late at night that hard? We've got the 'It's a girl!' signs all over the yard,_ Clark asked himself. The signs were compliments of one Jimmy Olsen, and he had taken a permanent marker to them, writing '_Times two_!' across the bottom of each banner.

Clark's plan flew out of his mind the moment he saw the man standing on the other side of the door.

Richard White. Unshaven, dark circles under his eyes, his car dusty and parked sideways in the driveway.

"Richard," Clark said, surprised.

"Kent," Richard replied, almost growled.

"What can I do for you?" Clark asked, pushing his glasses up his nose and trying to look politely curious, wanting nothing better than to tell the man to bugger off.

"Actually-" the former assistant editor of the _Daily Planet_ started making his way into the foyer. Clark was too polite to refuse him entrance.

"Richard?" Lois's surprised voice came from the bottom of the stairs. Clark shut the door and quickly made his way to the living room, where he found the pair of them staring each other down. "What're you doing here?" She asked, menace in her voice that Clark could never quite manage.

"I came to talk to you," Richard said through gritted teeth.

"I can't imagine anything we could have to talk about," Lois replied stonily. Clark stood behind Richard, watching them both carefully. Richard held a folder that a quick x-ray revealed to contain several pictures of himself, Lois, and Jason over the past few months; the pictures Georgianna had had Sarah Ricks take. Lois had glanced over Richard's shoulder and seen the worry in her husband's eyes. That was enough to make her force herself to be slightly more civil, schooling her face and waiting expectantly for Richard to continue.

"I want you to explain these," Richard said, holding out the folder and turning slightly to glance at Clark as he did so. Clark was surprised; there was pity in his eyes.

Lois glared at Richard, crossing the room and turning the baby monitor on as she did so. Richard looked confused only for a second before he glanced back at Clark again, even more pity in his eyes. Clark warily crossed the room to look over Lois's shoulder as she shuffled through the pictures.

Lois and Clark in the bullpen, Clark carrying a sleeping Jason to the parking ramp from the _Daily Planet_, Superman on the Kent apartment balcony, Superman and Lois standing very close on the Kent apartment balcony, Lois and Jason at the park with a bluish-red blur above, Lois hailing a taxi; almost fifty photos.

"Where did you get these, Richard?" Lois asked with forced calm.

"Georgianna," he replied calmly, glaring at her.

"That-" Lois let the threat hang, shaking her head. Clark rubbed a soothing hand across her lower back, biting his lip and looking at the pictures as she continued to shuffle through them. None of them pointed to the fact that Clark Kent and Superman are one in the same, but most of them made it look like Lois and Superman were carrying on behind Clark's back.

"Are these authentic?" Clark asked, glancing up at Richard and flooding with relief when the man didn't seem to know.

"As far as I'm aware," Richard replied, his face neutral. Lois and Clark exchanged a glance just as the baby monitor alerted them to Sidha or Elly's discomfort in the room above.

"My turn," Lois said, handing Clark the folder and practically running up the stairs.

The two men were left standing in the living room. Clark looked down at the folder in his hands, his mind flashing down dozens of different pathways at once; he could lie, he could pretend to get angry with Lois for her supposed affair, he could just ask Richard to leave. But he hated lying, he couldn't be angry at Lois, and he was too nice of a guy to ask Richard to leave. _I could just tell him the truth_, he admitted to himself. But he would want to talk to Lois before telling him anything, and he would rather not tell Richard to truth when it came down to it; he had hurt Lois badly, and Clark had no particular reason to trust him.

"Clark," Richard said slowly, looking across the room at the taller man still holding the folder, thinking. "I don't know what kind of relationship you and Lois had before… _he_ left and before you left, but," he paused like he was trying to find a way to sugar coat what he was trying to say. "I left Lois for a reason, Clark. Her heart belongs to that caped extraterrestrial," he spat the final word like it was poison on his lips and Clark began formulating a proper response, his dislike of the man across the room in front of him hardening. Richard, though, had a look of understanding and sympathy on his face, thinking he had been in Clark's place months ago.

"Richard," Clark said, his tone borderline sharp. "Lois and I are married. The twins were born six days ago," he said, the fact emphasized by the cooing coming from the baby monitor, Lois was upstairs soothing Sidha back into sleep and picking Elly up to change her diaper.

"Are you sure they're yours?"

"Yes."

"Did you have a test done? I was sure with Jason," Richard's voice matched Clark's in sharp resolve.

"Richard," Clark exhaled, setting the folder with pictures on the table and looking across the room with forced calm. "I don't need to explain my life to you. Lois and I wouldn't have gotten married if it wasn't what we wanted. Superman and Lois are _not_ having an affair. Superman comes by every now and again for an interview or to see his son," Clark's jaw was set with a resolve Richard had never seen in his mild-mannered former co-worker. "I've talked to Superman, I've talked to Lois… we're perfectly fine. Georgianna wanted to get the inside scoop on Superman so she followed Lois, which was bound to happen sometime. Superman is being more careful now; he's gone so far as to not visit us at home for Lois' sake."

"You see, it's because he loves her!" Richard pointed out, gesturing excitedly with his hands.

"Richard," Clark snapped, flipping the folder closed and sending a few of the shots flying onto the floor.

"You just don't want to see it. You're _desperate_. Jimmy always made it sound like you had a thing for her…" his voice rose in volume as the sentence continued.

"_Enough_, Richard," Clark growled, not wanting their words to carry up the stairs. "I don't know what possessed you to drive across the country to throw this in our faces, but, whatever these pictures might suggest, _nothing_ is going on. And, if there were, _you_ don't need to worry about it. You made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with Lois and Jason last year, now just let us be."

"I don't care about Lois and Jason, Clark," Richard said, glaring. "I just know what it feels like to play second fiddle to Superman!"

"Dad?" Jason asked from the bottom of the stairs. Both men turned to look and Jason's eyes darkened when they saw Richard by the couch. "What's _he_ doing here?" His voice was quiet.

"He was just leaving," Clark assured the boy, turning his back on Richard and crossing to pick Jason up off the stairs. "C'mon, let's get back to bed. It's late," he glanced over his shoulder at Richard as he carried Jason back up the stairs, his eyes making it clear that Richard should be gone when he came back down.

They found Lois standing at the top of the stairs, her hand tightly wrapped around the banister, her eyes trained on Richard's shoes, the only part of him she could see from her vantage. Clark put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently before heading down the hall to Jason's room.

"Why was he here?" Jason asked as Clark fixed the blankets around him.

"Do you remember when the photographer from the _Planet_ followed you and Mom around that day at the park?" Jason nodded. "Well, the photographer took a lot of pictures on other days, too, and she gave them to Richard."

"Why?"

"Richard," he sighed. "He wants to make life hard for Mom for not loving him as much as he wanted her to," he said carefully, getting a confused look from Jason. "He thought that if he showed me the pictures I would leave like he did."

"Why would you leave? They're pictures of _you_," Jason said, smiling a little.

"He doesn't know that it's me, though," Clark shrugged. "Don't worry about it, Jason. He's going to go back to California and leave us alone."

"What if he doesn't?"

"He will," Clark said, smiling gently and kissing his son's forehead. "Sleep fast, Jason; morning will be here before you know it," he said, remembering evenings when his father had said those same words to him, warning of chores that always came earlier than expected.

"Night, Dad," Jason said, scooting down under the blankets and closing his eyes.

"Night, son," Clark replied, crossing the room and closing the door softly on his way out.

- - -

Martha had to go back to Smallville at the end of the week. The hired hands charged with keeping the farm together tended to relax if she was away too long, and she knew it. She told Clark multiple times that, though she was getting on in her years, she barely missed anything. And he agreed. She'd slept straight through the confrontation with Richard, but she knew something was wrong the next morning and had persisted until he and Lois had told her everything. She shared with them the fact that neighbors in Smallville had always been a little too curious after Clark's mysterious arrival and that all they had to do was pretend like nothing was wrong, and give away a few minor 'secrets' to get them to back off. Lois and Clark weren't sure what they were going to do with that advice just yet, but they were thankful for it.

"Thanks for being here, Martha," Lois said, hugging the aging woman to her tightly.

"It was a pleasure, dear," Martha said, hugging her back before turning and doing the same to her son. "Don't go over-straining yourself now," she warned, "there's still kryptonite all over the city. I found chunks in the gutter when I went to the grocery store yesterday, you know."

"I will, Mom, thanks," Clark assured her, smiling. Martha turned to Jason and squeezed him tightly as well, ruffling his hair, something that was only Grandma's privilege these days. She peeked into the bedroom and blew kisses to the sleeping infants in their matching cribs.

"Well, I'm ready," she said, turning to Clark. "Is my ride?"

"Let's go, then," Clark said, spinning into the suit and bracing his mother's back as she came to stand on his feet.

"Goodbye, then, dears," Martha said as they rose off the patio into the darkness.

"Bye, Grandma!" Jason called out before returning to the dining room table and his spelling list. Lois joined him after the pair had completely disappeared from view and settled in the chair across from Jason.

"Do you need any help, sweety?"

"Dad said to wait for him," Jason said, turning up to look at her with a sparkle in his eye. "He said you'd probably make it worse."

"Did he now?" Lois asked, chuckling and pulling the list toward her. "We'll see about that."


	36. Chapter 36

**- - - Chapter Thirty-Six**

"Clark, your eye is twitching," Lois informed him tiredly, having watched his left eyelid flicker every few minutes for the past half an hour. The pair of them were standing in the twins' bedroom close the three a.m. rocking back and forth with a baby girl getting closer to sleep on their shoulders as the seconds passed. Clark was still in the suit.

"I know, it won't stop," he sighed wearily.

"_Why_ is your eye twitching?" She asked after a second, watching the lid vibrate again. "You never twitch. Ever."

"I got shot in the eye after dinner, that's all," he shrugged, using the movement to shift Elly farther down on his chest where she would be warmer.

"You got shot in the eye," she said, staring at him. The lid twitched again.

"Yes," he rolled said eyes. "When that happens I always twitch."

"That's weird."

"It's annoying," the stood looking at each other for a moment, Lois holding back a laugh when Clark's eye twitched again and he tightened his jaw in annoyance. He gestured with his head a few seconds later and they put the twins in their respective cribs and stopped by Jason's door, finding him sound asleep on top of his comforter and tucking him in properly, before heading downstairs.

Lois flopped tiredly on the couch and Clark brought her a cup of coffee, sipping his own as he settled next to her.

"Wow, you must really be tired," she said, looking over at him.

"Pardon?" He asked, gulping down half the coffee and wishing caffeine would work on him.

"You didn't even bother to take off the suit," she smirked, "that's usually the first thing to go."

"Well…" he shrugged and swallowed the rest of his drink. "I guess I might be."

"What would the world say if they knew Superman was heading home to newborn twins after pulling their kitty-cats out of the high treetops?" Lois asked, blowing on her steaming beverage and taking a small sip, smiling and leaning back into Clark's arm with pleasure as the hot drink seeped through her.

"They'd want to know who the lucky lady was, and then the paparazzi would never leave us alone," he replied, kissing the side of her head and breathing in her scent. These moments together were hard to come by in their recent lives. Superman was back in full force, the kryptonite in Metropolis being fully eradicated, the Justice League falling back to their own cities, and the twins stable enough so that Lois could manage by herself for short spans of time. Perry had meant it when he asked them both to take as much time as they needed, and had even brought them a takeout dinner a few days after Martha's departure.

"We have such weird lives," Lois said, chuckling, cuddling into him.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm more concerned about your eye twitching than you getting shot in the eye. If anybody knew we had children together the paparazzi would be camping in our front yard. If our little boy was awake upstairs he could hear us clear as crystal if he so chose," she smiled up at him. "Just to name a few." He chuckled, pulling her closer, heat radiating from his body through the suit, passing into her and relaxing muscles she hadn't known were tense.

"And it's all my fault," Clark said, only slightly guiltily. Lois glared up at him.

"Yes, it is," her face broke into a smile, "and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Thank you, Lois," he sighed, leaning down and kissing her tenderly.

The front door burst open and there was Richard, a look of triumph on his face. He'd been watching in silence through the window at the top of the door; Clark too tired to pay attention to the odd closeness of the heartbeat outside.

"Richard!" Lois said, surprised. She glanced at Clark and saw that his face only registered his surprise for a brief moment, before it was replaced with calm anger, and then carefully guarded displeasure. He was wearing his Superman mask, but he was also in 'husband-mode.'

They were both on their feet. Richard had come fully into the house and shut the door, glaring at the pair of them with what he thought was righteous fury.

"How could you do this to poor Clark?" He asked, alternating his glare between the pair of them. "The man is head-over-heels in love with you and you're running around with your ex!" He threw his hands up in disgust.

"Richard," Lois started, taking a step forward and holding a threatening finger in his direction.

"I can't believe you, Lois!" His voice rose and his hand gestures became more dramatic. "First you take me in, make me a _placeholder_ for _him_ when he knocked you up and _left_ you… then you let innocent, defenseless Clark _marry_ you, and as soon as he's out of the house _he_'s here!"

"Richard," Clark's voice was sharp, deep, commanding. He would've been the picture of stern anger if his left eye hadn't twitched just then. Lois snorted loudly. Richard was staring at them, half terrified of the wrath Superman had let show, half baffled by the fact that Superman's eye had twitched, and completely confused by Lois' reaction. Clark looked calmly at Lois and tried to recover any sort of stature he could manage and failed horribly, the corner of his mouth twitching into a half-smile for a moment. He turned back to Richard. He wasn't smiling at the man, but he wasn't nearly as upset as he had been a moment ago. "Richard," he started again, his voice soft, but strong. "You spoke with Clark last night. He told you in no uncertain terms that this is none of your business," he paused a moment, regaining some of the coldness the conversation had had moments ago. "Can you drive yourself back to California or would you like me to carry your car?"

"I…" he looked completely clueless. Clark could see Lois's jaw clenching, the anger returning. He took a step closer to Richard, coming to a more threatening level as his massive shoulders spread out in Richard's eyes, his head a good two inches below Clark's.

"This is none of your business," Clark said evenly, almost darkly. He'd tried being somewhat nice during their previous encounter; tonight he was being threatening; Richard had, after all, been insulting Lois. Insults to his own character he could take, but hearing the guy who had left Lois for assuming something that hadn't been happening had been accuse her of the same thing only with another man was enough to raise his temper. Richard scared Jason, the poor boy had been afraid to come downstairs the following morning, afraid Richard would still be standing in the foyer accusing him of being a 'bastard alien half-breed' as he had more than a year ago. Jason didn't know what those words meant, but they had made his mother angry and hurt her deeply; that was enough for him to know that they weren't something good to be called.

"Do you not realize what you're doing?" Richard asked, his heart racing. Clark was aware that the man was running on coffee and more than a little whiskey by the smell of his breath. "Introducing half-breeds to the population… Ruining Clark Kent's life. He has a mother, you know- a woman who thinks she has grandchildren!" He wasn't yelling like he had been before, but his eyes were narrowed, accusing, his voice ripe with every word he said. "Do you even feel the way we do? Do you realize the kind of pain you cause poor men like Clark? Do you love the woman there, or is she just good to have around for the sex?"

Clark's hands balled into fists, his eyes burning red for a moment with heat vision in his anger. Richard noticed this, backing up in fright, but the accusation in his expression didn't change. Clark took deep breaths, controlling his heat vision but not unclenching his fists.

Lois marched across the room and slugged her ex-fiancé.

Clark's fists unclenched, but the anger didn't dissipate. Lois's breath was coming in angry gasps, her cheeks flushed; Clark could see blood rushing into her fist, the first sign of the bruise she would have in the morning. Richard fell back against the door, his nose bleeding, hands checking if it was broken, and it definitely was. He'd get two black eyes out of that one. Lois backed up, standing behind her husband as he approached the man leaning against the door.

"I have been blessed with many gifts; one of those is a mind that is able to understand a great many things; more than most human minds," he said slowly, coldly, barely above a whisper. "Despite that, I _cannot comprehend_ why you would think that I wouldn't realize just how much pain I have brought into Lois's life. Or how much more pain you put in her way yourself. When I left for Krypton, neither of us were aware that she was pregnant. You cannot grasp the devastation I experienced when I returned and realized what I had left her behind to deal with alone. I was unspeakably grateful to you for supporting her the way you did, raising my son like your own. Neither can you understand the depth of my disappointment when you were unable to continue to love Jason like your son; the change in your understanding of the facts should not have changed your feelings toward the boy who called you and loved you as a father. If you had been able to accept the family you had and love them like they deserved, I would have stepped back and let you raise my son. Hell, I would've gone to the wedding if you asked me to. I would've plastered a smile on my face and wished you the best, because that's what Lois and Jason deserve. But you couldn't. You kicked them out, you let them…" he trailed off, his fists balling again at the thought of Lois and Jason sleeping in the storage room at the _Planet_. "I cannot give them a normal life. I can't take Jason to the park, or take Lois to dinner because somebody in Russia might call for help and I would have to go, or we'd be mobbed by the press, or an enemy would see us and use my family against me in the way only criminals do. You could have given them what I couldn't, Mr. White. And in deserting them, you knowingly hurt them worse than I ever could.

"I assure you my _feelings_ are just as real as yours. I may wear a mask for the public, but I'm not so alien as you'd like to think," his eyes were dark with anger, the red smoldering just below the surface, his teeth nearly grinding together in his attempt to retain a shred of the calm dignity expected of Superman. Richard opened his mouth to speak and Clark interrupted, "Mr. White, I suggest you turn around and leave now before I decide whether I want to incinerate you or throw you into orbit."

It wasn't a threat, it was just a statement. In all honesty Clark wouldn't dream of doing either, but Richard didn't know that, and Richard _really_ needed to vacate the premises. Lois's heartbeat was roaring in Clark's ears, her anger and hurt pumping through her veins, strengthening Clark's anger as it did so. He wanted nothing better than to scoop her up and hold her close for the rest of eternity.

Richard didn't say a word. He threw the door open and bolted for his car parked almost a block away, pinching the bridge of his nose in a useless attempt to stem the blood flow. The tires screeched as he pulled away, gunning the car to get as far away as possible before Superman's anger boiled over and the superhero decided which way he was going to be dealt with.

Clark closed the door slowly, turning the deadbolt and locking the handle before looking over at Lois. She was standing there in her pajamas and robe, her arms folded in front of her, rubbing the knuckles on the hand she'd hit Richard with. Clark walked over to her, taking the afflicted hand in his and gently stroking the knuckles.

"We should put some ice on that," he whispered. She looked up at him and they held each others' gaze until Clark's eye twitched. Lois looked away, smiling, going for an ice bag. When she returned to the living Clark was standing in his flannel pajama bottoms, the spit curl gone from his forehead.

She walked up to him and leaned into his bare chest, leaning her forehead against his shoulder and holding the bag of frozen peas she'd found to her knuckles. Clark pulled her closer, barely feeling the chill against his skin as the peas pressed into his chest. Lois was trembling in his arms.

They stood like that for a few minutes in perfect silence. The baby monitor hummed softly, giving off a small amount of static as well as the soft sounds of two little girls soundly sleeping in the rooms above. Clark could hear Jason's peaceful snores as well. And the crickets in the yard, and the hum of a thousand slow heartbeats in the city around them, and the sound of the most important heartbeat of all slowing to a more normal pace in his arms.

"How could he say that about you?" Lois whispered a few seconds later. She had one hand on his chest, her fingers tracing the scar leftover from the kryptonite dagger the Kings had used on him. He pulled back slightly, looking into her eyes. "How could he say that you don't feel things?"

Clark opened his mouth to respond, but her eyes were focused on his scar again and she continued before his words came out.

"You have more compassion in you than anybody else on this planet. You save strangers of a completely different race, putting their lives before yours on a daily basis. You are more selfless, more compassionate… Richard bitched about a human rights piece he was asked to do because it didn't officially fall under the International heading. I don't understand how he can even," she stopped, choking back the angry words that would've followed to look up at Clark's face again. "You really would've come to the wedding, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would, Lois," he said, his eyes shining in the dim lamplight. "I'm just," he swallowed, holding her closer. "He shouldn't have said those things to you."

"He was right, though."

"What?"

"He _was_ just a placeholder for you," she said softly.

"Lois-"

"No, Clark, it's true! I grabbed him up as soon as you were gone because I needed an excuse to be pregnant! I pretended to love him so that he would stay…" Clark cut her off before she could get any farther.

"All of that is _my fault_, Lois," he said, stroking her cheek. "_I_ left you in a position where you needed an excuse to be pregnant… _I_ left you… I took your memories," his voice was so quiet she wouldn't have heard it if she wasn't standing in his arms.

"But, Clark," she said, pulling back ever so slightly so that she could look into his eyes. "You explained all that to me. I understand why you took the memories. I'm not happy that I can't remember, but I don't blame you for taking them. I would've done the same thing for you, I think, if our positions were reversed," she took a deep breath. "And it's true you _didn't_ know I was pregnant, and _you _were the one to swoop in and save the day when Richard was an _ass_," she gave a half-hearted smile and Clark returned it with an equally weak grin. "Please," she said after a moment. "Let's just forget about Richard. Let's just think about now and later."

"I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you, Lois," Clark said, and Lois could see the wetness in his eyes.

"Like I said earlier, Clark, I wouldn't have it any other way. You've more than made up for it with the joy you've brought me," she assured him, cupping his face in her hand that wasn't holding onto the frozen peas, and pulling his face down to hers for a gentle kiss.

Clark pulled her closer, inhaling her scent and tasting her on his lips. She tossed the peas on the couch and tangled her hands in his hair, pulling him closer and feeling him lifting her off the floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him carry her up to their bedroom, her head against his shoulder, eyes closed in complete, trusting comfort.


	37. Chapter 37

**- - - Chapter Thirty-Seven **

Richard lay back on his couch. He'd wasted almost two full weeks of vacation time going to confront Lois about the whole Superman thing. He felt completely ridiculous. Superman and Clark were right; it really wasn't any of his business anymore. He shouldn't care. Clark had made it clear that he didn't care what Lois and Superman were doing while he looked the other way. _Pushover_, Richard thought, getting up to look at himself in the mirror again.

His nose was slightly crooked, red and swollen, and both of his eyes were puffy and sporting greenish bruises. He'd looked_ great_ on the drive back across the continental U.S. His nose had been bigger and redder and more crooked, and his black eyes had been really black, his eyes bloodshot. Lois threw a good punch, he'd give her that.

He couldn't let it go, though. It was all he had thought about since he'd pulled into his underground garage the previous night at an insanely late, almost early, hour. He'd even written up an article with accompanying photos courtesy of Sarah Ricks and Georgianna. He couldn't bring himself to publish it, though. Not only would the paper he worked at frown upon another Superman-negative article, but so would just about any tabloid he could bring it to. He had solid proof against the caped hero, and nobody would take it; they saw him as Lois's ex-fiancé who was holding a grudge and grasping at straws. In a way, he was, but he was also feeling for the poor, used Clark. That and he couldn't prove that Jason was Superman's son and everybody he talked to was a stickler on the whole inter-planetary breeding impossibility thing.

There was a banging at his door that he'd heard much too often of late.

Georgianna.

He sighed. She'd called him incessantly in his time driving and in Metropolis. She was 'deeply hurt,' in her own words, at his abandonment. She'd promised him juicier pictures once he got back, and said she'd confront Superman with him next time. However, Richard had lost all desire to ever be in the same room with the caped flier again. And yet Georgianna persisted. She hadn't seen the barely contained fury in the alien's eyes, though, the heat vision burning just beneath the surface. She hadn't heard his threat to incinerate or throw Richard into orbit; too bad he hadn't had a tape recorder.

"It's open," he called with a sigh, putting the kettle on for tea. Georgianna had been coming over every day in the past week. She had a system, he'd realized; she would show him the 'juicy' pictures while the water boiled, whine about how she couldn't believe he hadn't taken her with him while they drank their first cups, plan hypothetical confrontations during the second cup, and be incredibly disappointed he didn't share her enthusiasm as she finished off her third. By then they would be out of water for tea and she would 'politely' excuse herself.

"Richard, I've had a thought," Georgianna said, striding into his apartment with the familiar folder in hand.

"And what's that?" He asked, hoping that the fact that she had skipped right over the first two steps meant she'd be leaving sooner.

"I'll jump off your balcony," she said with complete seriousness.

"Really?" Richard asked, sounding too hopeful for the woman's liking; she scowled at him.

"Yeah, I'll jump off and scream and he'll come and we can talk to him about the photos."

"Georgianna," he sighed, wishing he could scrub a hand across his face without aggravating his nose. He settled for running his hand through his hair.

"What? It's a good idea; he'll come."

"Maybe," he shrugged and she glared at him, "but I don't want him to come. I never want to see him again. Hell, I don't care if he and Lois are together and just using Clark. I don't care if he hovers all day up in orbit. I don't care if he has some amazing secret identity. I don't care if you jump off a balcony to talk to him; I just hope you don't use mine."

She looked at him, hurt. "But… I thought you wanted him to expose him…"

"Have you _seen_ my nose?" He asked her.

"Yeah, but _he_ didn't do that. Lois-"

"Georgianna. We were interested in those pictures for two completely different reasons. You're in love with the guy. You want to be his new press contact even though you no longer work for the press," he said calmly. Georgianna, in fact, no longer worked for anybody and he was surprised she could still afford a Californian hotel room. "I, on the other hand, wanted to get back at him for personal wrongs. Now- I had my nose broken and I can barely keep my eyes open without them watering for my efforts. I have no need to go anywhere near Superman or anyone close to him ever again. And they don't want to see me either. And I _know_ they don't want to see you around. So. I think we're done here, it's been nice dumping my tea away with you," he gave a false smile and opened the door again. Georgianna glared and walked out. Richard smiled, locking the door behind her and turning on the history channel after taking the kettle off the stovetop.

- - -

Clark entered the bullpen and stopped dead in his tracks. Lois was at the coffee pot pouring herself a cup of coffee wearing one of the power suits she'd abandoned at the beginning of her second trimester. He marched up and stood behind her, waiting for her to turn around.

"Afternoon, honey," she said as she turned, feeling his familiar warmth behind her. "Want some coffee?"

"Lois," he said deeply, taking her coffee from her and setting it on the table next to the coffee pot.

"Hm?" She asked, turning and grabbing the mug again, taking a casual sip and looking up innocently at him.

"What're you doing here?"

"I work here," she reminded him.

"You're still on leave."

"So're you," she raised an eyebrow, and he raised one right back. Clark took her mug again and set it on the table behind her. By now they had the attention of half the bullpen. Their conversation was soft, not intruding on anybody's work, but they were Lois and Clark, and Clark wasn't stuttering.

"Lois," he said, drawing the name out with warning.

"Clark," she whined right back.

"What about Jason and the girls?"

"Jimmy's with them."

"Jimmy's supposed to be _here_," Clark reminded her. "_You're _the one on leave."

"So're you," she said again, putting her hands on her hips and staring up at him like a stubborn child.

"Lois," he sighed. "Okay, you're going home. The doctor said you're still supposed to be taking it easy-"

"Bullshit," she hissed, glaring at him.

"Are you going to walk or am I going to carry you?" He threatened, getting a spark in his eye that told her he was serious.

"You wouldn't _dare_," she said, her eyes widening because she knew he would; forget his Clark Kent persona around the office.

"Wouldn't I?" He raised an eyebrow, putting his hands on his hips, mimicking her stance. Her eyes widened.

"Clark-" And then she was hoisted over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and he was walking down the central aisle of the bullpen towards the elevators. His face was completely serious, he gave slight nods to the people who were staring and continued on his way as though he didn't have his wife thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Put me _down_, Shrek," she said, giving a half-hearted thump on his back. "Ugh!" She hissed, sitting up and giving the side of his head a good poke.

Clark pushed the elevator button and stood waiting. He could hear everybody behind him talking about what they had just witnessed. Perry was cracking up in his office, having spent a good hour trying to convince Lois to go home right after she'd come in. The rest of the bullpen was completely astonished that Clark had stood up to Lois, and that he had the muscle to lift her up like that.

"That was entirely unnecessary," Lois told him when he set her down in the elevator as they headed to the roof.

"Would you have come willingly?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, his eyes dancing with humor.

"Eventually," Lois said, the same humor dancing in her eyes. "I missed the girls already."

"I know what you mean," Clark sighed, deciding the elevator was going to slow.

"Well, I'm glad I wore pants today," Lois said, nodding sharply and glancing up at her husband, who was chuckling.

"I wouldn't have done that if you weren't," he assured her.

"Good to know," she said, getting a mischievous glint in her eye.

"I would've held you the way I do when I take most people flying," he continued as though she hadn't said anything, holding his arms out the way he did, miming having somebody's back on one arm, their shoulders on the other. She sighed, rolling her eyes at him.

"Fine, I promise to stay home until the three month standard leave period is up and we have a babysitter other than Jimmy."

"Thank you," he said, meaning it, and he leaned down and kissed her forehead gently as the doors opened on the roof.

- - -

It wasn't long before Lois was officially back full-swing. At first she had trouble settling into the assistant editor position that had suited her so well during her pregnancy. It wasn't that she didn't like the work she was doing. She, in fact, enjoyed putting the pages together. She missed the joy of the chase, though. She missed calling contact after contact and chasing down ornery senators on their lunch breaks. Most of all, she missed dragging Clark around the city, or flying around the city with him, chasing after her next big, front page article. Clark had taken over that position all by himself, getting a front page article weekly. She didn't hold a grudge, but she missed seeing her own byline every once in awhile. She still got the Superman exclusives, but Clark wrote those articles up, only giving her credit for the interviews, which was really all she did.

A nanny was hired for the twins. She would arrive at seven in the morning every day and stay until Lois returned around four o'clock with Jason after he finished school. That was one thing about being an assistant editor Lois liked very much; regular hours. She would leave the house with Clark, dropping Jason at school around quarter after seven, and then stay at the bullpen until two thirty, at which time she needed a cab to go pick up their son. Clark was usually chasing a story or itching his hero complex around then, so she didn't have the advantage of his flight. The pair of them would return to the bullpen and Jason would do his homework while Lois finalized her pages. Clark would fly them home and return to finish his story, usually not taking more than a few hours, and bringing dinner with him when he returned home.

The twins had grown fast, catching up to other babies so far as weight went after the first month. They slept a lot, and rarely cried. The nanny remarked on it time and time again. They would grunt with displeasure or give little whining cries when they were displeased of uncomfortable instead of wailing like most infants. They had also quickly developed specific cries for the people they were used to seeing, especially their older brother. Lois could already imagine him following the little girls around when they started kindergarten, marking them as under his protection for any potential bullies; this would be saying something, as Jason was already the tallest, if still the skinniest, kid in his class.

**- - - Epilogue**

Lois snuggled deeper into Clark's chest, breathing in the scent of him, reveling in the feel of his arms around her. They were in a hotel suite tucked away in the Norwegian countryside. Jason and the twins were with their grandmother in Smallville, and Perry had promised not to call.

"Happy anniversary, Lois," Clark murmured into her hair, squeezing her gently. She planted a kiss on the bare expanse of his chest below her cheek before looking up into his eyes.

"Happy anniversary, Clark," the said back, smiling.

"Two years," he sighed, shifting so that she didn't have to crane her neck quite so much to see into his face.

"Two years," she hummed back and his smile widened.

"I thought we had escaped the repeating game when we left our children in Smallville.

"Clark," she whined, still smiling. "I was agreeing with you."

"You were agreeing with me," he repeated, getting a stern look from his wife.

"Don't even start."

"_You_ started it."

"I thought we left this sort of thing in Smallville for the weekend," she said and he smiled down at her again, leaning down ever so slightly and capturing her lips.

"Remind me to thank Bruce for suggesting this place," Clark said a moment later.

"Really? I thought this was one of those places you saw in a fly-over or something."

"No, this was entirely Bruce's fault."

"I suppose that means we'll be babysitting Helena sometime soon. Jason will like that."

"Probably when Selena goes into labor," Clark said, shrugging. "And I'll be watching Gotham extra close."

"It's worth it."

"Yes, it is."

"I can't believe this is real," Lois said after another pause.

"What?"

"We own a minivan, Clark, and we live in suburbia. If you had told me when I met you, either side of you, that we would end up married with a minivan I wouldn't have believed you."

"I know what you mean," he chuckled and Lois sighed against his chest.

"And Jason's got his powers under control…"

"And Perry promised not to call _all weekend_," Clark said, leaning in to kiss her again.

"No work all weekend," she agreed with a smile. "There's another thing I wouldn't have believed I would be enjoying when we met."

"Not working on a weekend?"

"Yeah… c'mon, think of me back then. I would've killed for overtime."

"Or been killed on overtime."

"True," Lois said with a smile, rolling over and grabbing the wine and their glasses that had been abandoned earlier. She poured them each half a glass and handed Clark's to him before raising her glass in a toast. "To not dying for or on overtime."

"To many more _years_ of not dying for or on overtime," Clark amended and she nodded, clinking her glass against his before drinking.

To life after the fall.

**- - - End - - - **

**Thank you all for sticking with me for so long! This is officially 300 pages (almost exactly) in Microsoft Word- pretty much the longest thing I've ever written! Holy crap. Thanks for all the feedback and constructive criticism; I hope everything was tied up alright. I get the feeling that this ending was abrupt, but this **_**is**_** the end. I'm not much for sequels either, so… I dunno- if you tell me it needs one, tell me why, and I'll think about it. **

**As promised, the original chapter two (where the police officers hear Superman call Martha 'mom') has been worked into another story. I've already started it (which is half the reason updates have been so slow lately, sorry) and will be called 'Identity Crisis' when I put it up. School is officially out for the summer, so I'll have more time to write, but no internet access; updates will be rare, but chapters will be long (hopefully). **

**Thank you again for reading my fic- I hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it!**

**- mak:)**


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